METHODIST  HEROES 
OF  OTHER  DAYS 

SAMUEL  GARDINER  AYRES 


MAY  1  1918 


BX  8491   .A974  1916 
Ayres,   S.  G. 

Methodist  heroes  of  other 
days 

Ay  'I A  7m 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/methodistheroesoOOayre 


Methodist  Heroes 
Of  Other  Days 

By 

SAMUEL  GARDINER  AYRES 


THE  METHODIST  BOOK  CONCERN 
NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI 


Copyright,  1916,  by 
SAMUEL  GARDINER  AYRES 


DEDICATED 
TO 

MY  FATHER 
THE  REV.  DAVID  CLOUGH  AYRES 
AND  TO  THOSE  WHO  WERE  HIS 
COLABORERS  EN  THE  ACTIVE 
WORK  OF  THE  METHODIST  MIN- 
ISTRY FOR  FORTY  YEARS  WITHIN 
THE  BOUNDS  OF  THE  TROY  CON- 
FERENCE. HE  TAUGHT  ME  TO 
LOVE  THE  CHURCH   AND  THEM. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 


Prefatory  Note   7 

Introduction    9 

I.  Francis  Asbury  the  Triumphant   13 

II.  Philip  Embury,  the  First  of  a  Noble 

Company   ^   19 

III.  William  McKendree,  the  First  American- 

born  Methodist  Bishop   22 

IV.  Henry  Willis,  the  First  Presiding  Elder.  26 
V.  George  Pickering,  New  England  Evangel.  29 

VI.  Anning  Owen,  the  Apostle  of  the  Wy- 
oming Valley   32 

VII.  Peter  Massie,  of  Kentucky   36 

VIII.  Thomas  Morrell,  Soldier  and  Bishop's 

Companion    39 

IX.  Jesse  Lee,  the  New  England  Pioneer.  .  43 

X.  George  Dougherty,  the  One-Eyed  Hero..  46 

XI.  William  Winans,  the  Indefatigable   49 

XII.  Alfred  Brunson,  the  Soldier  Preacher.  52 

XIII.  Shadrach  Bostwick,  M.D.,  "Professor  in 

Brush  College"   56 

XIV.  Zenas  Caldwell— 1800-1826   59 

XV.  Robert  Boyd,  an  Ohio  Methodist  Pioneer.  62 

XVI.  Richmond  Nolley,  Missionary  '  66 

XVII.  Samuel  Tucker,  Martyr  to  Duty   69 

XVIII.  George  Harmon,  Traveling  Companion  of 

Bishop  McKendree   72 

XIX.  John  Clark,  Indian  Missionary   77 

XX.  William  Beauchamp,  Almost  a  Bishop..  83 
5 


6  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XXI.  Philip  Gatch,  Preacher  and  Judge   86 

XXII.  Valentine  Cook,  Orator   90 

XXIII.  Hope  Hull,  Educator   95 

XXIV.  John  Gaddis,  the  Heroic  Convert   98 

XXV.  William  B.  Christie   101 

XXVI.  Glezen  Fillmore,  the  First  Methodist 

Pastor  of  Buffalo,  New  York   106 

XXVII.  James  Moore,  of  New  Jersey   110 

XXVIII.  John  Kobler,  the  Young  Presiding  Elder.  115 
XXIX.  Joseph  Lillard,  Colleague  of  Samuel 

Tucker    119 

XXX.  Joseph  Gruber,  the  Eccentric   122 

XXXI.  James  Gilmore  of  the  Eccentric  Group.  127 

XXXII.  John  Ray,  the  Witty  Kentuckian   131 

XXXIII.  "Reformation"  John  Adams   135 

XXXIV.  Billy  Hibbard,  the  Eccentric   139 

XXXV.  John  Haslam,  Temperance  Reformer...  143 

XXXVI.  George  Gary,  the  Young  Presiding  Elder.  146 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


Part  of  these  sketches  have  appeared  in  the 
Western  Christian  Advocate,  and  one  in  the 
Pittsburgh  Christian  Advocate.  The  rest  appear 
for  the  first  time.  The  stories  used  are  gathered 
from  old  papers,  biographies,  local  histories,  aud 
reminiscences  of  aged  people. 


7 


INTRODUCTION 


The  present  generation  of  Methodists,  it  is 
feared,  know  few  of  the  names  of  the  Methodists 
of  former  days,  and  still  less  of  the  manners  and 
speech  of  the  olden  time.  Some  have  an  idea  that 
the  preachers  were  uneducated,  ignorant  ranters, 
and  that  their  hearers  were  emotional  and  easily 
impressed. 

The  preachers  of  the  early  days  were  sometimes 
ignorant  men,  but  filled  with  the  love  of  Christ 
and  burning  with  zeal  to  extend  his  kingdom. 
Many  were  graduates  of  "Brush  College,"  as 
they  facetiously  called  the  itinerant  method  of 
study.  Their  saddlebags  contained  their  library, 
and  whenever  they  could  they  studied.  Whenever 
an  older  preacher  was  met  the  younger  one  would 
ask  questions  and  receive  instruction  and  advice. 

The  times  were  such  that  there  was  a  greater 
opportunity  for  the  development  of  individuality 
than  now.  So  some  eccentric  men  arose,  such  as 
Lorenzo  Dow,  whom  some  men  refused  to  allow 
in  the  pulpit,  not  understanding  him  and  having 
no  patience  with  him.  We  must  not  lose  sight 
of  the  fact  that  they  were  greater  than  their 
oddities,  and  that  they  were  used  as  the  instru- 
9 


10 


INTRODUCTION 


ments  of  God  in  winning  many  men  to  Jesus 
Christ.  To-day  the  stories  of  their  eccentricities 
amuse  us,  and  we  are  apt  to  forget  that  they 
were  naming  evangels. 

The  ministers  of  the  olden  time  were  of  the 
stuff  of  which  heroes  are  made.  They  were  in 
labors  abundant,  in  journeys  oft  and  far.  They 
suffered  from  hunger  and  thirst,  from  perils  from 
men  and  beasts,  from  poverty  and  toil.  Yet  they 
failed  not  nor  faltered,  but  were  faithful  unto 
the  end. 

They  secured  great  results,  for  above  all  else 
they  were  men  of  great  faith.  They  took  God 
into  partnership,  and  he  was  often  drawn  upon, 
and  always  acknowledged  the  draft.  Thus  out 
of  the  trials  was  evolved  sainthood,  and  out  of 
their  sanctification  came  glorification. 

They  were  men  who  were  great  in  prayer. 
They  often  trod  the  way  into  the  Holy  of  holies. 
They  were  importunate  in  their  faith.  They  ex- 
pected to  receive  an  answer,  and  so  it  came. 

Their  training  was  such  that  they  read  human 
nature  like  an  open  book.  It  seemed  at  times  as 
if  they  were  inspired.  Their  messages  brought 
hidden  things  to  light,  and  made  the  greatest 
braggarts  quake. 

They  were  all  things  to  all  men,  yet  they  never 
ceased  to  be  manly,  noble,  and  true.  Their  lives 
were  a  rebuke  to  other  men  because  of  their 


INTRODUCTION 


11 


purity.  Their  fearlessness  was  a  challenge  to  the 
powers  of  evil  to  do  their  worst.  They  were  great 
defenders  of  the  faith.  They  defended  the  truth 
against  Calvinists,  Arians,  deists,  and  Univer- 
salists.  Rarely  were  they  beaten.  They  had  to 
defend  their  flock  from  the  proselyter,  the  infidel, 
and  rum,  and  they  did  it  bravely  and  valiantly. 

All  hail  to  our  Methodist  preachers  of  olden 
days!  From  them  we  may  derive  lessons  of  wis- 
dom and  cheer.  We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
conflict.  They  can  teach  us  how  to  fight.  We 
may  have  better  equipment,  a  fairer  field,  and  a 
more  courteous  opponent,  but  we  can  never  sur- 
pass them  in  the  splendor  of  their  manly  spirit 
and  sacrifice. 


I 


FRANCIS  ASBURY  THE  TRIUMPHANT 

An  English  lad,  whose  principal  "foible"  was 
a  love  of  play,  and  whose  young  apprentice  man- 
hood was  pure  and  good,  showed  no  particular 
sign  that  he  was  to  act  the  great  part  which  he 
did  in  later  life.  When  but  a  mere  lad  he  began 
to  preach  in  England.  He  was  not  as  closely  at- 
tentive to  his  duties  as  he  should  have  been,  as 
is  witnessed  by  a  letter  of  reprimand  written  to 
him,  and  still  preserved. 

When  only  a  little  past  twenty-six  years  of  age 
he  voluntarily  left  his  native  land  and  came  to 
America  and  became  a  true  American.  From 
then  on  to  the  end  of  his  career  his  was  a  life 
filled  with  pain  and  suffering.  No  year  passed 
without  his  having  a  hurt  or  ailment  of  some  sort. 
Sometimes  he  had  to  be  lifted  on  and  off  his  horse 
and  put  to  bed  like  a  child.  At  other  times,  with 
little  strength  to  spare,  he  sat  in  his  chair  and 
preached  to  a  small  or  a  large  congregation.  He 
addressed  a  dozen  or  five  thousand,  as  oppor- 
tunity offered. 

In  1772  Wesley  appointed  this  handicapped 
young  man  of  twenty-seven  the  superintendent 
13 


14  METHODIST  HEROES 


of  all  the  churches  in  America.  He  was  only  one 
of  nine  preachers,  and  there  were  only  three  hun- 
dred and  sixteen  members  in  all  the  American 
colonies,  and  so  it  did  not  seem  such  a  great 
undertaking;  but  before  John  Wesley  died  he 
became  almost  jealous  of  Francis  Asbury,  so 
great  had  the  work  grown  to  be.  When  Francis 
Asbury  died  there  were  no  less  than  six  hundred 
preachers  and  two  hundred  and  fourteen  thou- 
sand members. 

We  have  mentioned  the  personal  physical  hin- 
drances which  were  always  a  thorn  in  the  flesh. 
To  these  we  must  add  the  times  of  discourage- 
ment, which  must  come  to  every  sick  man.  He 
had  his  sleepless  nights  over  the  state  of  the 
church,  the  debt  on  Cokesbury  College,  the  in- 
difference of  the  people,  and  the  backslidden  state 
of  many  members.  He  toiled  over  bad  roads  in 
winter,  cold  and  heat,  snow  and  rain,  through 
swamps  and  over  mountains,  making  the  rounds 
of  the  Conferences  and  charges. 

At  the  beginning  his  tours  extended  to  two 
thousand  miles  a  year,  and  later  they  exceeded 
five  thousand  miles  and  even  reached  six  thou- 
sand miles  in  eight  months.  He  visited  the  South 
thirty  times  in  thirty-one  years.  In  some  sections 
the  houses  were  filthy  and  the  fare  poor.  He 
shared  the  poverty  of  the  people  or  enjoyed  being 
entertained  "like  a  President." 


FRANCIS  ASBURY 


15 


He  and  bis  companion  frequently  rode  twenty- 
five,  thirty,  and  even  thirty-five  miles  in  a  day 
without  food  for  man  or  beast.  "I  find  it  hard 
to  ride  eight  or  nine  hours  without  any  other 
nourishment  but  a  little  bread  and  tea,''  he  re- 
marks; but  on  one  occasion  he  returns  thanks 
over  a  handful  of  nuts,  and  on  another  over  a 
crust  of  bread  for  two.  He  tells  how  he  enjoyed 
some  potato  and  bacon  after  a  ride  of  twenty- 
seven  miles  without  food.  On  one  occasion  the 
lunch  was  a  peach  pie.  Of  course  he  was  tired. 
He  records  in  his  Journal :  "Rest,  rest,  how 
sweet !  Yet  how  often  in  labor  I  rest,  and  in  rest 
labor!"  After  a  hard  ride  of  three  days  he 
records  a  poor  time  in  preaching.   He  earned  it. 

Sometimes  he  slept  on  the  ground  in  the  woods 
without  even  a  tent  over  him,  or,  again,  on  the 
floor  in  a  log  cabin  on  a  deerskin  filled  with  fleas. 
He  was  glad  when  he  had  a  bed,  even  if  the  snow 
or  the  rain  came  through  the  broken,  leaking 
roof.  He  was  sometimes  obliged  to  associate 
with  drunken  and  profane  men.  He  was  in 
dangers  oft,  yet  he  never  ceased  to  do  his  duty, 
and  his  everlasting  cry  was  for  the  souls  of  men, 
and  no  pain  he  had  was  so  great  as  the  heartache 
caused  by  the  fall  of  a  member  of  the  flock. 

His  prayers  as  recorded  in  his  Journal  would 
make  a  book.  One  has  a  particularly  pathetic 
note:  "Lord,  remember  Francis  Asbury  in  all  his 


16  METHODIST  HEROES 


labors  and  afflictions."  And  who  shall  say  that 
this  prayer  was  not  answered?  So  often  he 
records  his  belief  in  a  Divine  Providence:  "I  can 
say  hitherto  the  Lord  hath  helped  us  through 
deeps,  deserts,  dangers,  and  distresses.  I  have 
told  but  a  small  part  of  our  labors  and  suffer- 
ings; let  the  great  day  of  eternity  reveal  the 
rest." 

But  this  was  only  the  setting  for  a  life  in  which 
many  hours  were  sweet  and  happy  in  praise  and 
service :  "O  what  sweetness  I  feel  as  I  steal  along 
through  the  solitary  woods!  I  am  sometimes 
ready  to  shout  aloud  and  make  all  vocal  with  the 
praises  of  His  grace  who  died,  and  lives  and  in- 
tercedes for  me."  "I  have  suffered  much — I  am 
pained  and  sore,  and  poor  Jane  stumbled  so 
often !  but  my  limbs  and  my  soul  are  safe.  Glory ! 
Glory!"  "The  prospects  of  doing  good  are 
glorious."  "I  groan  one  minute  with  pain,  and 
shout  glory  the  next."  "The  Lord  was  my  helper 
and  my  mind  was  in  peace."  "I  began  and  ended 
the  day  with  God."  There  are  other  references, 
which  might  be  quoted,  showing  the  sweetness  of 
his  soul.  All  the  time  he  was  seeking  the  best 
and  highest  experience,  and  he  finally  found  it  in 
1803:  "My  mind  is  in  a  great  calm  after  the 
tumult  of  the  Baltimore  Conference  ...  in  ad- 
dition to  the  charge  of  the  superintendency  to  feel 
and  to  live  in  perfect  love." 


FRANCIS  ASBURY 


17 


Only  the  year  before  his  translation  he  said: 
"My  mind  enjoys  great  peace,  and  divine  conso- 
lation. My  health  is  better,  but  whether  health, 
life,  or  death,  good  is  the  will  of  the  Lord.  I  will 
trust  him  and  will  praise  him.  He  is  the  strength 
of  my  heart,  and  my  portion  forever.  Glory! 
Glory!  Glory!"  And  this  he  said  when  he  re- 
signed to  younger  hands  the  burdens  of  his  work, 
but  he  ceased  not  to  toil  until  the  last.  He 
preached  his  last  sermon  in  Richmond,  Virginia, 
March  24,  1816,  from  the  text :  "For  he  will  finish 
the  work,  and  cut  it  short  in  righteousness:  be- 
cause a  short  work  will  the  Lord  make  upon  the 
earth."  He  sat  on  a  table  prepared  for  him  and 
preached  for  nearly  an  hour  "with  much  feeling." 
He  was  carried  from  the  church  to  his  carriage. 
It  is  not  the  end  of  his  journey,  for  he  travels 
Tuesday,  Thursday,  and  Friday.  He  came  to  the 
home  of  Mr.  George  Arnold  and  rested  on  Satur- 
day, and  on  Sunday,  the  31st  day  of  March,  1816, 
he  took  his  last  long  journey  to  the  land  of  rest. 

His  legacy  was  a  great  one — a  life  filled  with 
toil  and  sacrifice,  not  devoid  of  faults,  'tis  true, 
but  ever  striving  for  the  best.  He  traveled  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  miles  in  the 
thirty-seven  years  of  his  life  as  bishop,  preached 
more  than  nineteen  thousand  times,  ordained,  ap- 
pointed, and  loved  one  thousand  ministers,  served 
four  generations  of  laymen,  winning  fathers  and 


18  METHODIST  HEROES 


mothers,  sons  and  daughters,  grandchildren  and 
great-grandchildren  for  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
number  he  won  for  the  kingdom  can  never  be  told. 
He  was  the  real  founder  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  of  America,  and  to  him  and  his 
care  it  owes  more  than  we  can  record.  His 
triumph  never  ends. 


II 


PHILIP  EMBURY,  THE  FIRST  OF  A  NOBLE 
COMPANY 

The  General  Conference  of  1916  had  many 
memorials  presented  concerning  the  settlement  of 
the  historic  fact  as  to  the  priority  of  the  claim 
that  Methodism  was  established  in  New  York  by 
Philip  Embury,  or  the  claim  that  Robert  Straw- 
bridge  first  blazed  the  way  in  Maryland.  So  far 
not  enough  data  have  appeared  to  reward  the 
searchers  for  historic  truth  to  enable  us  to  im- 
partially settle  the  question.  Possibly  it  can 
never  be  settled.  During  the  session  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  a  pilgrimage  was  made  to  the 
grave  of  Embury,  and  a  service  held  there. 

I  suppose  you  have  heard  of  the  Scotch- Irish. 
Did  you  ever  hear  of  the  German-Irish?  There 
was  a  group  of  German  refugees,  who  fled  to 
escape  persecution  from  the  County  Palatine  on 
the  Rhine  not  long  after  the  year  1700.  They 
settled  in  Balligarane,  Ireland.  John  Wesley 
often  preached  to  them  there.  Whether  he  was 
the  means  of  the  conversion  of  Embury  or  not  we 
do  not  know. 

19 


20  METHODIST  HEROES 


We  have  preserved  for  us  Mr.  Embury's  state- 
ment of  the  fact  of  his  conversion:  "On  Christ- 
mas day,  being  Monday,  the  23th  of  December,  in 
the  year  1752,  the  Lord  shone  into  my  soul  by  a 
glimpse  of  his  redeeming  love;  being  an  earnest 
of  my  redemption  in  Christ  Jesus,  to  whom  be 
glory  for  ever  and  ever.   Amen.   Phil.  Embury." 

About  eight  years  later  Embury  with  other 
friends  and  neighbors  emigrated  to  this  country 
and  settled  in  New  York  city.  Embury  came  as 
a  carpenter  and  joiner,  but  later  taught  school. 
Earlier  in  the  century  another  group  of  Irish 
people  came  to  this  country  to  start  the  linen  in- 
dustry here,  but  the  venture  was  a  failure.  There 
is  some  historical  ground,  but  not  absolute  proof 
that  this  group  of  emigrants  came  to  this  country 
for  the  same  purpose. 

The  story  has  been  often  told  of  the  interrupted 
game  of  cards.  Barbara  Heck  called  Embury  to 
task  while  he  was  playing  with  some  companions, 
seized  the  cards  and  threw  them  into  the  fire, 
and  told  him  to  be  about  his  Master's  business  as 
a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  He  obeyed  the  admoni- 
tion, and  soon  after  preached  to  a  little  company 
of  five  or  six  people. 

His  congregation  increased  and  a  society  was 
formed.  Captain  Webb  joined  him  a  few  months 
later,  and  to  his  leadership  was  due  the  erection 
of  the  first  Methodist  church  in  New  York  city. 


PHILIP  EMBURY 


21 


Mr.  Embury  worked  on  the  building  as  a  car- 
penter. 

When  Mr.  Wesley's  preachers,  Boardman  and 
Pilmoor,  came  over,  Mr.  Embury  left  New  York. 
The  State  in  the  meantime  had  given  him  and 
his  brother  David  a  grant  of  land  in  the  town  of 
Queensbury,  New  York.  About  seven  miles  from 
his  grant  he  established  the  Ashgrove  Society,  in- 
cluded for  inauy  years  within  the  limits  of  the 
city  of  Albany,  New  York.  Only  two  or  three 
years  ago  the  society  unfortunately  changed  its 
name  aud  lost  its  historical  connection. 

For  some  time  he  was  justice  of  the  peace  in 
his  community.  When  only  forty-five  years  of 
age  he  became  overheated  in  mowing  and  sud- 
denly died. 


Ill 


WILLIAM  McKENDREE,  THE  FIRST  AMERI- 
CAN-BORN METHODIST  BISHOP 

Bishops  Coke,  Asbury,  and  Whatcoat  were  all 
born  in  England.  The  American  preachers  were 
much  pleased  when  William  McKendree  was 
elected  bishop  at  the  General  Conference  of  1808. 
He  was  led  into  the  kingdom  of  God  by  the  Rev. 
John  Easter  in  1787,  and  taken  by  him  to  the 
Annual  Conference  in  1788.  For  twelve  years 
Virginia  was  the  scene  of  his  labors.  The  follow- 
ing eight  years  he  was  the  presiding  elder  of  the 
Western  Pioneers. 

For  nearly  twenty-seven  years  he  served  as  a 
bishop.  He  was  not  only  distinguished  as  a 
preacher  but  was  noted  for  his  ability  as  a  pre- 
siding officer.  To  him  we  owe  the  introduction 
of  parliamentary  law  into  our  General  Confer- 
ence, and  the  Annual  Conferences.  This  was  done 
with  infinite  tact  and  diplomacy. 

Henry  Smith,  a  preacher  of  the  Baltimore  Con- 
ference, wrote  about  it  in  the  year  1855.  Bishop 
McKendree  introduced  the  new  method  in  the 
General  Conference  of  1812.  As  it  was  new, 
22 


WILLIAM  McKENDREE 


23 


Bishop  Asbury  arose,  and  addressing  Bishop  Me- 
Kendree, said,  "I  have  something  to  say  to  you 
before  the  Conference."  Bishop  MeKendree  arose 
to  his  feet  and  the  two  men  stood  facing  each 
other.  Bishop  Asbury  continued :  "This  is  a  new 
thing.  I  never  did  business  this  way,  and  why 
is  this  new  thing  introduced?"  Bishop  Me- 
Kendree promptly  replied,  "You  are  our  father, 
we  are  your  sons ;  you  never  had  need  of  it ;  I  am 
only  a  brother,  and  have  need  of  it."  Bishop  As- 
bury sat  down  with  a  smile  on  his  face.  He  was 
satisfied. 

Bishop  MeKendree  was  a  splendid  business 
man,  and  very  painstaking.  Bishop  Morris  was 
very  fond  of  telling  a  story  which  well  illustrates 
this  trait :  "Many  years  ago,"  he  wrote  in  a  letter 
to  Bishop  Soule,  "the  precise  time  not  recollected, 
one  day  in  Conference,  Bishop  MeKendree  asked 
me  for  the  loan  of  a  pencil.  I  handed  him  the 
only  article  of  the  kind  I  had.  It  was  a  very 
small  cedar  pencil,  perhaps  two  inches  and  a  half 
long,  and  less  in  diameter  than  a  common  rye- 
straw,  with  a  plain  brass  head.  It  was  used  pri- 
marily as  a  pin  to  fasten  a  small  pocket  memo- 
randum-book, and  to  make  notes  on  the  same. 
The  original  value  of  the  article  could  not  have 
been  more  than  three  cents.  Of  so  little  im- 
portance was  it  to  me  that  I  did  not  miss  it  at 
all,  nor  remember  the  transaction  again  until  a 


24 


METHODIST  HEROES 


year  afterward,  when  the  bishop,  one  day  in  Con- 
ference, beckoned  to  me,  and  on  my  approaching 
him,  handed  me  the  pencil,  which  he  had  kept  for 
me  on  a  tour  of  some  thousands  of  miles,  having 
perhaps  forgotten  to  return  it  at  the  proper  time. 
As  the  business  of  Conference  was  in  progress, 
he  gave  no  explanation,  but  the  sight  of  the  pencil 
and  a  moment's  reflection  brought  the  whole 
transaction  to  my  mind,  and  afforded  a  theme  of 
profitable  meditation  upon  the  character  of  a 
man  who,  amid  the  trials  and  perils  of  his  ex- 
tended journeys,  and  his  numerous  and  daily 
cares  respecting  the  church  over  which  he  exer- 
cised his  general  superintendency,  could  still 
charge  his  mind  with  so  small  a  matter." 

He  took  great  care  of  his  papers  and  his  cloth- 
ing. In  society  he  was  always  dignified,  but 
never  stern. 

The  first  bishops,  with  the  exception  of  Bishop 
Coke,  were  unmarried  men.  They  were  all  lovers 
of  children.  Bishop  McKendree  was  especially 
fond  of  them.  At  one  place  he  often  visited  he 
would  allow  the  little  girl  in  the  home  to  comb 
his  "beautiful  black  hair."  Then  he  would  re- 
ward her  with  his  thanks  and  a  sweet  kiss.  She 
would  count  the  buttons  at  his  knees.  There  were 
five  at  each  knee,  and  he  wore  buckles  on  his 
shoes.  He  was  at  this  home  on  one  occasion  when 
a  thunderstorm  arose.    The  little  girl's  mother 


WILLIAM  McKENDREE 


25 


told  Mr.  McKendree  how  frightened  the  little 
girl  was  during  a  thunderstorm.  He  called  the 
child  to  him,  took  her  on  his  knees,  and  laid  her 
head  on  his  breast  and  soothed  her.  When  the 
sharp  lightning  came  she  would  hide  her  face  in 
his  bosom  and  feel  perfectly  safe. 

He  not  only  loved  children,  but  animals  as 
well.  Like  Bishop  Asbury,  he  was  fond  of  the 
faithful  horses  who  carried  him.  His  last  horse 
was  old  "Grey,"  and  in  his  will  he  made  provision 
for  his  care. 

As  a  preacher  few  surpassed  him  in  his  insight 
into  spiritual  matters.  Sometimes  great  results 
followed  his  efforts,  and  many  were  converted  as 
the  result  of  his  preaching.  He  was  not  at  all 
vain  of  his  ability.  On  one  occasion  he  was  asked 
to  preach  before  the  House  of  Representatives  at 
Washington  but  declined.  He  said  that  "his 
mission  was  to  those  who  were  found  in  the  moun- 
tains and  valleys  and  waste  places  of  the  earth ; 
and  especially  to  the  poor." 

Few  men  loved  the  church  more  or  were  more 
useful  in  it.  Bishop  Asbury  founded  the  church, 
and  Bishop  McKendree  organized  it  for  efficient 
work. 


IV 


HENRY  WILLIS,  THE  FIRST  PRESIDING 
ELDER 

Among  the  many  homes  where  Bishop  Asbury 
loved  to  go,  and  where  he  found  the  rest  which 
his  weary  body  needed,  there  was  no  home  where 
he  was  more  welcome  than  the  home  of  the 
widow  Ann  Willis.  This  was  one  of  his  preach- 
ing places  as  well,  as  will  be  noted  in  the  Bishop's 
Journal.  For  many  years  he  made  it  a  point  to 
stop  there  whenever  in  the  neighborhood. 

Her  husband  was  as  remarkable  a  man  as  she 
was  a  woman.  He  was  a  man  of  unusual  refine- 
ment and  of  great  zeal.  He  was  a  very  slight 
man,  and  always  had  a  tendency  to  consumption. 
He  not  only  preached,  but  supported  his  family 
by  his  labor  as  well.  He  was  born  in  Virginia, 
aud  died  at  Pipe  Creek,  Frederick  County,  Mary- 
land, in  1808.  He  began  to  preach  as  early  as 
1779,  when  there  were  only  thirty-four  preachers 
in  the  connection. 

His  name  appears  in  the  Conference  Minutes  as 
elder,  with  four  preachers  under  his  direction. 
In  the  Minutes  for  1785  also  his  uame  is  first 


HENRY  WILLIS 


27 


among  the  supervising  elders.  The  others  were 
Richard  Ivey,  Reuben  Ellis,  Nelson  Reed,  Enoch 
Matson,  James  O'Kelly,  Thomas  Foster,  Richard 
Whatcoat,  Caleb  Rover,  William  Guild,  Thomas 
Vasey,  Thomas  Chew.  The  next  year  he  was  sent 
to  Charleston,  thence  to  New  York,  thence  to 
Philadelphia,  showing  that  he  was  a  man  of  un- 
usual ability,  or  he  would  not  have  been  selected 
for  these  important  points.  His  district  com- 
prised the  two  circuits,  Yadkin  and  Holstein,  and 
the  two  had  nearly  seven  hundred  members. 

We  have  no  particular  account  of  his  hardships 
on  this  district,  but  he  must  have  had  them. 
Bishop  Asbury  said  of  him  that  "he  possessed 
great  courage  tempered  with  good  conduct;  he 
was  cheerful  without  levity,  and  sober  without 
solemn  sadness  or  melancholy."  His  health  was 
so  poor  in  some  years  that  from  time  to  time  he 
was  supernumerary,  preaching  very  little  after 
1793.  His  house  was  always  a  place  where  other 
ministers  were  welcome,  and  where  he  exercised 
the  greatest  of  hospitality  to  all  who  came. 

He  was  the  means  of  the  conversion  of  many. 
The  first  year  that  he  was  pastor  in  New  York 
there  were  fifty-four  probationers  added  to  the 
roll,  and  the  second  year  seventy.  And  this  suc- 
cess probably  characterized  all  his  ministry. 

I  have  been  able  to  find  two  original  letters 
addressed  to  Mrs.  Willis  by  Bishop  Asbury.  One 


28 


METHODIST  HEROES 


he  writes  from  Union  Camp  Meeting,  September 
7, 1812.  In  it  he  shows  his  great  esteem  and  says : 
"Help  me,  sister,  by  your  prayers.  I  live  for 
millions  of  sons  and  daughters  of  Adam  and  of 
God.  I  fear  you  will  slack  your  hands.  Watch 
on,  pray  on,  suffer  on,  believe  on,  fight  on,  like 
a  woman;  like  a  man  for  God  when  I  saw  you 
stemming  the  weather  up  the  hill  like  an  heroine 
or  Shunammite  riding,  and  stop  not  to  get  to 
the  prophet ;  be  Frank's  sister,  his  mother  and 
prompter  to  all  good ;  the  borough  of  Pipe  Creek 
shall  be  ours.  We  will  not  if  God  is  with  us 
leave  a  hoof  behind." 


V 


GEORGE  PICKERING,  NEW  ENGLAND 
EVANGEL 

Without  meaning  to  do  so,  we  find  that  we 
have  been  confining  these  sketches  largely  to  men 
of  the  Middle  West.  Next  to  Jesse  Lee  stands 
George  Pickering  among  the  Methodist  apostles 
of  New  England.  He  was  born  in  Maryland  in 
1709.  In  17S7  he  was  converted  in  the  famous 
old  Saint  George's  Church,  of  Philadelphia.  In 
1790  he  joined  the  Baltimore  Conference.  His 
first  field  of  labor  was  in  Virginia.  In  1793  he 
was  sent  to  New  England,  and  there  he  worked 
the  rest  of  his  life.  In  1797  he  was  made  the 
presiding  elder  of  the  New  England  District, 
which  then  included  all  of  the  New  England 
States  except  Maine  and  Connecticut.  He  was 
one  of  the  great  exceptions  to  the  usual  rule  of 
short  ministries  and  had  an  effective  ministry  of 
fifty-seven  years.  He  served  sixteen  years  as  a 
presiding  elder,  and  nine  years  as  a  missionary 
at  large.  He  was  a  member  of  eight  General  Con- 
ferences, and  six  times  led  his  delegation.  In 
1808  he  was  a  member  of  the  committee  which 
prepared  for  a  delegated  General  Conference.  He 
29 


30  METHODIST  HEROES 


had  the  distinction  of  being  at  his  death  "the 
oldest  effective  Methodist  preacher  in  the  world." 

He  was  fortunate  in  his  marriage,  his  wife  in- 
heriting from  her  father  a  fine  home,  and  thus 
allowing  him  to  be  free  from  care  as  to  his  finan- 
ces. Many  of  the  early  preachers  were  compelled 
to  locate  in  order  to  provide  for  their  families. 
Dr.  McClintock  is  authority  for  the  statement 
that  of  the  six  hundred  and  fifty  preachers  whose 
names  appeared  on  the  Minutes  previous  to  1800, 
"five  hundred  died  in  the  local  ranks  and  most  of 
the  remainder  had  located,  though  on  becoming 
relieved  of  domestic  embarrassments,  they  were 
able  to  reenter  the  ministry  aud  die  in  it." 

George  Pickering  was  noted  for  his  character 
more  than  for  his  preaching,  although  he  was  a 
good  preacher.  He  was  a  very  methodical  man 
in  everything.  He  had  set  times  to  visit  his 
family.  So  conscientious  was  he  that  if  his  duties 
took  him  within  half  a  mile  of  his  house,  he  would 
not  visit  his  family  until  the  set  time.  His  por- 
trait represents  him  as  a  benevolent,  kindly, 
pious,  shrewd,  cautious,  wise,  and  witty  man. 
One  can  see  all  this  in  his  face.  His  contem- 
poraries give  testimony  that  he  possessed  these 
very  qualities. 

To  these  qualities  one  of  his  biographers  adds 
a  great  tribute  for  his  gentlemanliness.  He  was 
always  neat  and  polite. 


GEORGE  PICKERING  31 


In  the  Minutes  for  1791,  it  is  said  of  Wyatt 
Andrews,  "As  long  as  he  could  ride  he  traveled ; 
and  while  he  had  breath  he  praised  God."  This 
was  equally  true  of  George  Pickering.  In  the  last 
year  of  his  life  he  went  to  an  adjoining  charge 
and  preached  twice.  A  lady  remarked  to  him 
that  he  must  be  tired  working  so  hard,  and  espe- 
cially when  he  was  so  old.  He  replied  that  he  did 
not  mind  it  and  would  really  feel  better  if  he  had 
preached  three  times  instead  of  twice.  A  con- 
temporary said  of  him  that  "he  lived  every  day." 
His  friends  witnessed  his  joyful  translation  to 
the  other  world.  He  died  full  of  wonderful  joy 
and  peace. 


VI 


ANNING  OWEN,  THE  APOSTLE  OF  THE 
WYOMING  VALLEY 

Recently  it  has  been  my  pleasure  to  read  the 
history  of  the  Genesee  Conference  by  F.  W. 
CoDable,  published  in  1876.  This  book  embalms 
within  its  pages  the  heroic  deeds  of  many  an 
early  pioneer.  Among  the  rest  we  find  the  name 
of  Anning  Owen.  It  is  not  the  first  time  that  we 
have  met  his  name.  It  is  a  name  written  large 
in  Methodism  and  often  mentioned  in  its  biogra- 
phies and  histories. 

Mr.  Owen  was  in  the  Indian  Battle  of  Wyoming 
in  1778.  A  contemporary  who  heard  the  old  saint 
tell  the  story  says :  "When  the  retreat  commenced 
on  the  battlefield  he  thought  he  should  almost 
certainly  be  killed,  and  should  go  straight  to  hell. 
He  began  to  pray,  and  determined  that  should  he 
be  shot,  he  would  fall  on  his  face,  and  his  last 
breath  should  be  spent  in  calling  upon  God  for 
mercy.  He  (and  his  brother-in-law)  secreted 
themselves  under  a  grapevine  on  the  margin  of 
the  river  and  there  he  gave  his  heart  to  God,  and 
had  never  taken  back  the  pledge.  He  found  peace 
32 


ANNING  OWEN 


33 


to  his  soul  before  he  left  the  place,  being  there 
several  hours.  Another  fugitive — a  boy — took 
refuge  with  them."  Years  after  another  contem- 
porary records  their  meeting  in  a  love-feast  and 
the  remark  of  Mr.  Owen :  "Ah !  Brother  Serle,  we 
had  like  to  have  gone  to  hell  together  under  the 
grapevine." 

He  joined  the  Conference  in  1795  and  con- 
tinued to  labor  for  about  nineteen  years.  Most  of 
his  labor  was  confined  to  Western  New  York.  A 
pestilence  swept  over  the  country  in  1814  and  Mr. 
Owen  and  his  wife  were  victims,  dying  within 
twelve  hours  of  each  other.  He  was  in  his  sixty- 
third  year. 

In  Early  Methodism,  by  Dr.  George  Peck, 
several  anecdotes  are  told  of  our  hero.  He  was 
sometimes  very  blunt,  often  zealous  to  advance 
the  work  of  the  kingdom.  He  was  opposed  to  all 
of  the  various  isms.  It  is  said  that  he  had  the 
following  passage  in  nearly  every  prayer  he 
offered :  uO  Lord,  put  a  stop  to  Mohammedanism, 
Judaism,  heathenism,  atheism,  deism,  Universal- 
ism,  Calvinism,  and  all  other  devilisms." 

Mr.  Owen  never  failed  to  use  an  opportunity 
to  win  a  soul.  On  one  occasion  he  joined  com- 
pany with  a  traveler  who,  he  found,  was  not  a 
Christian.  He  used  every  argument  he  could 
think  of,  with  no  apparent  effect.  They  came  to 
a  fork  in  the  road  and  bade  each  other  good-by. 


34 


METHODIST  HEROES 


Under  a  sudden  inspiration  Mr.  Owen  turned  and 
called  out,  "See  here,  my  friend,  I  have  two  more 
things  to  say  to  you  which  I  wish  you  not  to 
forget." 

"What  are  they?"  said  the  stranger. 
"Hell  is  hot  and  eternity  is  long,"  was  the 
reply. 

The  message  fastened  itself  in  the  man's  mind 
and  led  ultimately  to  his  conversion.  Years  after 
he  met  Mr.  Owen  and  told  him  the  story  of  his 
salvation. 

On  one  occasion  Father  Owen  was  preaching 
on  happiness  and  said,  "A  man  who  is  seeking 
happiness  in  the  world  is  just  like  a  cat  chasing 
her  own  tail ;  she  is  often  just  on  the  point  of 
catching  it,  but  it  flies  away  and  she  never  quite 
gets  hold  of  it." 

Another  story  told  by  Dr.  Peck  is  that  on  a 
certain  occasion  a  Presbyterian  land  agent  came 
to  hear  him  preach.  Mr.  Owen  looked  upon  this 
as  a  challenge.  He  said  that  land-jobbers  were 
"like  a  land-jobber  of  old,  who  offered  to  give 
away  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  when  the 
poor  devil  had  not  a  foot  of  land  in  the  world." 
Next  he  gave  a  tirade  against  the  Presbyterians. 
His  hearer  arose  and  said,  "It  is  too  bad  and  I 
cannot  endure  it!"  "Sit  down,  sir!"  the  preacher 
thundered.  Twice  again  was  the  hearer  brought 
to  his  feet  by  the  words  of  the  preacher,  and  each 


ANNING  OWEN 


35 


time  commanded  to  sit  down.  In  this  day  such 
preaching  would  not  be  tolerated.  In  that  day 
controversy  was  so  constant  that  undoubtedly 
the  course  of  Father  Owen  was  applauded.  He 
had  a  tremendous  voice  and  was  sometimes 
known  as  "Bawling  Owen,"  but  we  are  assured 
that  "it  was  not  all  voice."  He  was  a  mighty  man 
of  God  and  won  many  souls. 

He  took  his  trials  bravely  and  uncomplainingly. 
On  a  certain  occasion  he  found  that  rowdies  had 
shaved  his  horse's  tail.  His  host  was  indignant, 
but  was  moved  to  laughter  when  Father  Owen 
said,  "Glory  to  God!  he  is  not  like  Samson,  for 
he  is  as  strong  as  ever."  His  beloved  son  died 
and  he  preached  the  funeral  sermon.  Later  a 
beautiful  daughter  died  also,  and  he  preached 
the  funeral  sermon  on  that  occasion.  The  im- 
pression thus  created  was  very  profound. 

Father  Owen  was  a  great  singer.  It  is  said 
that  he  was  especially  fond  of  one  piece  called 
"The  Band  of  Music."  He  sang  it  wherever  he 
went,  and  on  all  occasions.  On  the  day  of  his 
death  his  last  strength  was  employed  in  singing 
it.  His  voice  failed  and  an  angelic  band  bore  him 
away  to  unite  in  the  music  of  heaven. 


VII 


PETER  MASSIE,  OF  KENTUCKY 

In  the  year  1786  James  Haw  held  a  revival  in 
Kentucky.  Among  the  first  fruits  of  the  revival 
was  Peter  Massie.  He  was  filled  with  the  con- 
viction that  he  ought  to  preach.  His  ideals  were 
high  and  his  modesty  correspondingly  great,  so 
that  he  refused  to  hear  the  call.  As  a  consequence 
he  became  backslidden.  While  in  this  condition 
he  and  some  others  went  across  the  Ohio  River 
after  some  horses.  On  their  return  the  Indians 
attacked  them  and,  firing,  killed  all  the  company 
except  Massie.  He  sprang  into  a  little  gully  and 
concealed  himself  among  the  weeds.  He  promised 
himself  that  if  the  Lord  would  hear  his  prayer 
and  deliver  him  from  the  Indians,  he  would  be- 
come a  minister.  In  some  way,  the  Indians  failed 
to  find  him  and  he  returned  home  in  safety.  He 
was  true  to  his  word  and,  in  1788,  rejoined  the 
Conference.  This  was  the  same  year  as  that  in 
which  William  McKendree,  Valentine  Cook,  and 
Thornton  Fleming  joined  the  Conference.  His 
ministry  was  brief,  all  too  brief.  First,  he  was 
sent  with  Thomas  Williamson  and  Benjamin 


PETER  MASSIE 


Snelling  to  the  Lexington  Circuit.  This  had  a 
membership  of  two  hundred  white  and  ten 
colored  members.  They  must  have  had  good  suc- 
cess, for  the  next  year  they  had  four  hundred  and 
two  white  and  twenty-one  colored  members.  The 
next  year  he  was  sent  to  the  Danville  Circuit  with 
Barnabas  McHenry.  Here  the  total  membership 
was  four  hundred  and  forty.  Then  the  three  cir- 
cuits were  divided  into  five,  so  that  we  cannot  tell 
how  great  an  increase  there  was. 

In  1791  he  was  sent  to  Limestone,  to  succeed 
Samuel  Tucker,  the  martyr,  whose  story  appears 
later  in  this  volume.  It  had  one  hundred  and 
forty-three  members.  In  December  he  went  to 
the  Cumberland  Circuit  to  visit  some  of  his 
friends.  On  the  18th  he  reached  the  home  of  Mr. 
Hodges,  three  miles  west  of  Nashville.  The  In- 
dians were  abroad,  and  the  family  of  Mr.  Hodges 
had  gone  to  the  fort  for  protection.  Mr.  Hodges 
was  quite  ill  and  unable  to  go.  A  young  colored 
boy,  who  had  been  converted  under  Mr.  Massie's 
preaching,  also  took  refuge  in  the  cabin.  Mr. 
Massie  had  been  laboring  very  hard,  and  was 
never  a  strong  man.  During  the  night  he  suffered 
much  pain.  In  the  morning  he  arose  and  even 
went  to  the  breakfast  table.  His  host  expressed 
the  wish  that  he  would  soon  be  well  enough  to 
travel.  He  replied,  "If  I  am  not  well  enough  to 
travel,  I  am  happy  enough  to  die."  In  a  very  few 


38 


METHODIST  HEROES 


moments  he  died.  His  host  was  too  ill  to  bury 
him,  so  the  Negro  boy  cut  down  an  ash  tree, 
divided  it,  and  lined  the  grave  with  it.  After 
placing  the  body  in  the  grave,  he  covered  it  over 
with  a  slab  and  then  filled  in  the  grave  with 
earth.  This  colored  boy  was  much  interested  in 
the  welfare  of  his  race  in  Africa,  and  went  to  see 
Bishop  McKendree  about  sending  some  one  to 
Africa  as  a  missionary.  Mr.  Paine,  who  after- 
ward became  one  of  the  bishops  of  the  Church, 
South,  volunteered  to  go  on  condition  that 
Simeon,  the  colored  boy,  should  accompany  him. 
Mr.  Paine's  people  would  not  release  him,  so  the 
project  was  abandoned. 

Mr.  Massie  was  only  thirty  when  he  died.  He 
was  a  man  of  attractive  personality  and  a  soul- 
winner.  He  often  preached  with  tears  of  sym- 
pathy on  his  face. 


VIII 


THOMAS  MORRELL,  SOLDIER  AND 
BISHOP'S  COMPANION 

The  early  Methodists  were  sometimes  accused 
of  being  unpatriotic,  or  of  being  Loyalists.  This 
was  in  large  part  due  to  the  fact  that  Wesley 
took  the  side  of  the  Crown  in  the  struggle,  and 
to  a  lesser  degree  it  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
Methodism  was  a  transplanted  church.  Not  all 
were  of  this  type,  however ;  most  Methodists  were 
sympathizers  with  the  American  cause.  Thomas 
Morrell  was  a  notable  patriot. 

He  was  born  in  New  York  city,  November  22, 
1747.  His  parents  were  early  connected  with 
Methodism.  His  mother  was  a  member  of  the 
first  Methodist  class  in  the  old  John  Street 
Church.  In  1772  the  family  moved  to  Elizabeth- 
town,  New  Jersey.  There  were  no  Methodists 
here,  and  she  joined  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In 
1785  a  Methodist  class  was  formed,  and  of  this 
she  became  a  member. 

When  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington 
reached  Elizabethtown  all  was  stir  and  bustle  at 
once,  for  the  patriots  were  aroused.  A  militia 
39 


40  METHODIST  HEROES 


company  was  formed,  and  the  young  clerk  in  his 
father's  store  became  Captain  Thomas  Morrell  by 
the  election  of  his  comrades.  He  was  a  soldier 
bold.  In  the  summer  of  1775  he  was  in  command 
of  one  of  the  boats  which  captured  the  Green 
Mountain  Valley,  a  transport  loaded  with  pro- 
visions for  the  British  army.  The  next  spring  he 
was  in  command  of  a  party  which  built  "Stockade 
Fort,"  designed  to  prevent  the  enemy  from  land- 
ing at  Elizabethtown  Point.  He  also  aided  in 
conveying  some  powder  to  Washington  at  great 
personal  risk. 

In  June,  1776,  Congress,  then  assembled  at 
Trenton,  gave  him  a  captain's  commission.  It  is 
said  that  he  convened  two  companies  of  milita 
and  gave  them  such  a  spirited  and  patriotic  ad- 
dress that  in  five  minutes  more  than  enough  had 
volunteered  to  serve  in  his  company.  At  great 
private  expense  he  fitted  out  the  company  and 
reported  in  New  York,  July  10,  1776. 

August  27  he  was  on  Long  Island,  and  was 
seriously  wounded.  He  was  carried  first  to  his 
father's,  and  then  to  New  Providence,  New 
Jersey,  which  is  within  five  miles  of  the  place 
where  this  chapter  was  written.  He  finally  re- 
covered and  was  in  the  thick  of  the  Battle  of 
Brandywine  and  the  attack  on  Germantown.  He 
was  compelled  to  leave  the  army  after  this  battle 
on  account  of  rapidly  failing  health,  much  to  the 


THOMAS  MOKKELL 


41 


regret  of  General  Washington.  He  was  not  con- 
verted until  1786.  This  was  in  March.  In  June 
he  began  to  preach  as  a  local  preacher.  The  next 
year,  when  forty  years  old,  he  joined  the  Con- 
ference. In  1789  he  was  sent  to  New  York  to 
raise  the  money  and  build  a  second  church.  In 
less  than  two  and  a  half  months  the  first  stones 
of  the  foundation  were  laid  for  the  old  Second 
Street  Church,  afterward  called  the  Forsyth 
Street  Church.  The  following  January  a  great 
revival  took  place,  and  about  two  hundred  joined 
the  church.  In  1791  he  traveled  with  Bishop  As- 
bury  in  order  to  recuperate  health.  He  spent  the 
rest  of  his  pastorate  in  Xew  York,  Philadelphia, 
and  Baltimore. 

The  last  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  retire- 
ment in  Elizabethtown.  He  lived  to  be  over 
ninety  years  of  age.  He  preached  nearly  every 
Sunday  at  Elizabethtown,  much  to  the  delight  of 
all.  Judging  from  the  several  accounts  of  his 
preaching  given,  he  was  a  doctrinal  preacher,  de- 
lighting to  preach  on  such  topics  as  the  atone- 
ment, justification,  sanctification,  and  the  like. 
Dr.  Sprague,  the  author  of  the  Annals  of  the 
American  Pulpit,  examined  one  of  his  outlines 
and  said :  "It  is  written  with  marked  ability,  and 
would  be  highly  creditable  to  any  of  our  most 
highly  educated  ministers,  indicating  a  high  de- 
gree of  intellectual  culture."   One  who  knew  him 


42 


METHODIST  HEROES 


well  declared  that  "not  infrequently  his  preaching 
was  attended  with  an  unction  that  affected  his 
own  heart,  causing  the  tears  to  trickle  down  his 
cheeks,  and  being  communicated  to  his  hearers, 
a  large  part  of  his  audience  would  be  melted  down 
with  him  into  tenderness,  humility,  and  love." 
The  present  generation  of  Methodists  cannot  be- 
gin to  know  how  much  we  owe  to  this  old  soldier. 
He  gave  to  the  Methodism  of  New  York  a  great 
impetus  at  a  critical  period.  It  is  due  to  him 
largely  that  Methodism  became  so  strong  in 
Elizabethtown  and  its  neighborhood ;  and  though 
it  is  now  far  away  in  time,  the  descendants  of 
his  spiritual  children  of  the  third  and  fourth 
generation  should  arise  and  call  him  blessed. 


IX 


JESSE  LEE,  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  PIONEER 

A  young  Virginian  had  been  converted  and  his 
soul  was  all  on  tire.  Although  only  seventeen 
years  of  age,  he  began  to  preach  with  consider- 
able success  in  the  Virginia  revival  of  1775.  It 
would  never  have  been  guessed  at  that  time  that 
he  was  to  be  one  of  the  great  leaders  of  Methodism 
and  chaplain  of  Congress. 

He  was  drafted  into  the  Continental  Army,  but 
would  not  fight,  as  it  was  contrary  to  his  prin- 
ciples to  bear  arms.  He  preached  to  the  soldiers 
when  released  from  the  guardhouse.  They  wished 
to  take  up  a  collection  for  him,  but  he  would  not 
permit.  He  was  given  charge  of  a  baggage 
wagon,  and  frequently  preached  to  the  soldiers. 

In  1782  he  began  his  lifework  as  a  Methodist 
preacher.  In  1789  he  began  his  work  in  New 
England,  and,  with  the  exception  of  some  time 
spent  as  the  traveling  companion  of  Bishop  As- 
bury,  he  was  traveling  until  1809  from  one  end 
of  New  England  to  the  other.  In  1800  he  came 
within  one  vote  of  being  elected  a  bishop,  Bishop 
Whatcoat  being  elected  in  his  stead.  He  was 
chaplain  of  Congress  in  the  years  1810,  1811,  1812, 
43 


44 


METHODIST  HEROES 


and  1813.  The  next  year  he  served  as  chaplain 
of  the  Senate. 

He  was  a  very  large  man,  weighing  nearly  three 
hundred  pounds.  He  was  tall,  so  that  he  did  not 
appear  as  heavy  as  he  really  was.  His  wit  was 
brilliant.  In  repartee  he  had  few  equals.  On 
one  occasion  it  is  said  that  he  was  riding  along  a 
road  when  two  travelers,  also  on  horseback, 
joined  him.  One  rode  on  either  side.  They  were 
lawyers  and  entered  into  one  argument  after 
another  with  him.  He  never  failed  to  get  the  best 
of  them.  Finally  one  of  his  companions  turned  to 
him  and  said,  "What  are  you  anyway,  a  fool  or 
a  knave?" 

"Neither,  gentlemen,"  he  replied.  "I  believe  I 
am  just  between  the  two." 

In  the  early  days  of  Methodism  some  preachers 
in  other  denominations  tried  to  hinder  our 
preachers.  Such  a  one  examined  Mr.  Lee  as  to 
his  fitness  to  preach.  He  addressed  a  remark  to 
Mr.  Lee  in  Latin.  Lee  at  once  replied  in  German, 
which  he  had  acquired  in  North  Carolina  many 
years  before.  The  minister  was  much  surprised 
and  put  another  question,  this  time  in  Greek.  Mr. 
Lee  again  replied  in  German.  His  opponent  did 
not  understand  German  and  mistook  the  reply 
for  Hebrew  in  each  case,  and  so  thought  him  a 
learned  man. 

Another  story  is  told  of  his  success  in  waking 


JESSE  LEE 


45 


a  sleepy  congregation.  Some  of  his  people  were 
well  asleep  and  others  in  the  churchyard  were 
visiting  and  talking  so  loudly  that  he  was  an- 
noyed. Pausing  for  a  full  minute  and  raising  his 
voice  so  that  the  people  in  the  yard  could  hear 
him  he  said,  "I'll  thank  the  people  in  the  yard 
not  to  talk  so  loud ;  they'll  wake  up  the  people  in 
the  house."   The  situation  was  changed  at  once. 

Mr.  Lee  was  a  great  preacher,  one  of  the  great- 
est of  the  times.  His  words  came  fluently  and 
his  thought  was  often  so  original  that  it  sur- 
prised his  congregation.  Dr.  Thomas  E.  Bond 
once  said  that  he  heard  him  preach  on  the  text, 
"Therefore  being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace 
with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  His 
beginning  was  somewhat  eccentric :  "And  what  is 
the  old  fellow  going  to  do  with  that  old  bone, 
which  has  had  the  meat  all  picked  off  years  ago? 
I'll  tell  you  what  he  is  goiug  to  do  with  it :  he  is 
going  to  crack  the  bone,  and  give  you  the  mar- 
row." Then  he  proceeded  to  give  a  splendid,  help- 
ful sermon. 

The  last  time  he  preached  was  at  a  camp  meet- 
ing. His  text  was,  "Grow  in  grace."  This  was 
preached  August  22,  1816.  By  September  12  he 
had  passed  to  his  reward  and  joined  his  beloved 
Bishop  Asbury,  who  had  gone  before  him  just  a 
few  months  before.  He  is  often  correctly  styled 
the  "Apostle  of  Methodism  in  New  England." 


X 


GEORGE  DOUGHERTY,  THE  ONE-EYED 
HERO 

The  environment  of  the  early  preacher  was 
always  a  strenuous  one.  He  labored  from  morn- 
ing to  night,  and  often  late  into  the  night.  Add 
to  the  unusual  drawbacks  of  his  situation  that  of 
a  physical  disability,  and  it  would  seem  that 
human  nature  could  not  stand  the  strain.  But 
the  human  will  is  all-powerful,  and  will  overcome 
the  difficulties  of  any  situation.  Think  of  a  man 
thin  and  slender  with  effeminate  voice,  pock- 
marked face  as  the  result  of  an  attack  of  the 
smallpox,  having  only  one  eye,  the  other  having 
been  totally  destroyed  by  that  disease,  and  it 
would  hardly  seem  that  here  was  one  who  would 
be  classed  among  the  great  preachers  of  his  time. 
Yet  he  was  a  great  preacher.  He  was  a  man  of 
marvelous  memory.  It  is  said  that  he  could  re- 
peat almost  anything  that  he  had  ever  heard,  and 
with  this  faculty  so  fully  developed,  he  had  an 
implement  for  the  development  of  a  sermon  un- 
surpassed. 

He  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  and  began 
46 


GEORGE  DOUGHERTY  47 


preaching  in  1798.  His  ministry  lasted  only  nine 
years,  and  the  list  of  his  appointments  is  not  a 
long  one,  but  his  influence  was  very  great.  His 
entire  ministry  was  in  the  State  of  South  Caro- 
lina. He  was  not  always  left  in  peace,  but  had 
to  suffer  persecution.  At  one  time  the  persecu- 
tion was  so  severe  that  he  was  rescued  at  the 
point  of  the  sword.  One  of  his  last  public  acts 
was  to  bring  forward  a  resolution  in  his  Confer- 
ence, which  he  attended  about  three  months  before 
he  died.  It  was  in  the  following  words :  "That  if 
any  preacher  deserts  his  station  through  fear 
in  the  time  of  sickness  or  danger,  the  Conference 
should  never  employ  that  man  again."  His  argu- 
ments and  energy  carried  the  day,  and  he  was 
satisfied.  There  is  on  record  a  letter  from  Joshua 
Wells  telling  how  he  died.  It  is  interesting  to 
those  who  like  the  writings  of  the  early  Methodist 
fathers. 

Just  a  paragraph  from  the  end  of  the  letter: 
"Of  his  fortitude  I  would  speak  at  large,  but 
although  I  saw  it  I  can  not  describe  it.  He  spake 
of  death  and  eternity  with  an  engaging  feeling, 
sweet  composure,  and  manifested  an  indescribable 
assemblage  of  confidence,  love,  and  hope.  He 
said,  'The  goodness  and  love  of  God  to  me  are 
great  and  marvelous,  as  I  go  down  the  dreadful 
declivity  of  death.'  His  understanding  was  un- 
impaired in  death,  and  so  brave  was  his  tran- 


48 


METHODIST  HEROES 


quillity  that  his  true  greatness  was  probably 
never  seen  or  known  until  that  trying  period.  He 
died  without  a  struggle  or  scarcely  a  sigh." 

I  have  written  the  notice  of  this  hero  of  other 
days  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  to  our  minds 
again  the  oft-needed  lesson  that  men  are  able, 
in  spite  of  limitations  and  untoward  environment, 
to  do  great  service  for  the  Master  and  the  world. 


XI 


WILLIAM  WINANS,  THE  INDEFATIGABLE 

A  young  preacher  was  preaching  the  funeral 
sermon  of  a  brother  minister  at  Washington, 
Mississippi,  in  the  year  1821.  It  was  a  tribute  to 
a  man  only  a  few  years  his  senior,  but  who  had 
exercised  a  great  influence  over  his  life.  In  fact, 
it  was  the  one  of  all  others  who  had  helped  him 
to  come  to  the  decision  that  he  should  give  his 
life  to  the  ministry  of  the  church.  The  preacher 
of  the  day  was  William  Winans,  and  he  was 
preaching  the  funeral  sermon  of  Samuel  Parker, 
an  unusual  position  for  a  young  man  to  fill.  Mr. 
Winans  was  born  in  1788  in  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania. At  an  early  age  his  father  died,  and  he 
was  obliged  to  do  much  toward  the  support  of  the 
family,  and  he  worked  in  iron  foundries  of  the 
section. 

When  about  sixteen  years  of  age  he  was  con- 
verted and  joined  the  church.  When  twenty  he 
began  to  preach,  and  his  first  appointment  was 
on  the  famous  Limestone  Circuit,  of  which  men- 
tion has  been  made  in  other  articles  of  this  series. 
He  was  with  James  King  as  colleague.  He  labored 


50  METHODIST  HEROES 


only  a  year  in  Kentucky,  but  it  is  said  that  "it 
left  a  lasting  impression  on  the  church."  In  1809 
he  went  to  Vincennes.  He  found  there  a  society 
of  forty-three  members,  which  had  been  formed 
by  the  famous  Jesse  Walker,  and  in  the  year  in- 
creased it  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-five.  While 
serving  as  pastor  of  this  church  he  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  General  William  Henry  Harrison, 
then  governor  of  Indian  Territory.  He  was  with 
General  Harrison  when  the  treaty  of  peace  was 
made  with  Tecumseh,  the  famous  Indian  chief, 
and  it  was  the  coolness  of  his  bearing  that  helped 
to  bring  about  the  final  result. 

In  1810  a  call  for  volunteers  was  made  for  the 
work  in  Mississippi,  and  he  responded.  The 
journey  was  made  on  horseback,  in  the  midst  of 
winter,  through  a  trackless  wilderness.  He  was 
then  sent  on  to  New  Orleans,  where  he  remained 
about  a  year.  In  1815  he  married  and  felt  obliged 
to  locate,  and  in  the  meantime  taught  school.  In 
1820  he  reentered  the  Conference  and  served  three 
terms  as  presiding  elder,  and  part  of  the  time 
was  pastor.  Then  he  became  an  agent  for  the 
Methodist  Church  in  New  Orleans,  having  asso- 
ciated with  him  the  notorious  John  N.  Maffitt. 
After  this  he  served  as  presiding  elder  for  several 
years.  A  friend  said  of  him :  "Often  have  I  seen 
him  on  his  tours  of  circuit  duties  scarcely  able  to 
sit  in  the  saddle,  drawing  himself  up  in  the  pulpit, 


WILLIAM  WINANS 


51 


preaching  for  two  hours  with  surpassing  power 
and  unction,  and  then  falling  down  faint  and  ex- 
hausted, his  handkerchief  stained  with  blood; 
and  for  days  thereafter  motionless,  hovering,  as 
it  were,  between  life  and  death.  Thirty  years  ago, 
and  at  intervals  since,  he  was  thought  to  be  in  a 
rapid  decline.  He  was  afflicted  with  hemorrhages, 
bronchitis,  derangement  of  the  vital  organs,  and 
general  debility;  and  physicians  prohibited  the 
excitement  of  the  pulpit.  But  he  would  preach ; 
he  'felt  called  of  God  to  preach.' " 

He  was  a  member  of  the  General  Conference  of 
1844,  and  was  declared  by  Abel  Stevens  to  be 
next  to  Peter  Cartwright — the  most  unique  man 
of  the  assembly. 


XII 


ALFRED  BRUNSON,  THE  SOLDIER 
PREACHER 

Born  a  Connecticut  Yankee,  living  for  a  time 
in  Yonkers,  New  York,  then  emigrating  to  Ohio 
when  it  was  a  new  country,  Alfred  Brunson 
entered  the  ministry  after  serving  as  a  soldier  in 
the  War  of  1812.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
Methodism  in  Detroit,  some  parts  of  Illinois,  Wis- 
consin, and  farther  West.  He  was  the  founder 
of  our  mission  to  the  Chippewas,  served  as  Indian 
agent  at  Lapointe,  Wisconsin,  and  practiced  law 
for  ten  years  while  struggling  with  ill  health. 
He  served  as  member  of  the  State  Assembly  for 
two  years.  He  was  presiding  elder  for  many 
years  and  a  member  of  three  General  Conferences 
of  the  church.  He  was  especially  strong  in  de- 
bate with  the  Campbellites.  He  had  a  sermon 
three  hours  long  which  he  delivered  to  the  people 
far  and  near.  In  those  days  the  Campbellites  were 
great  proselyters,  and  this  sermon  completely 
answered  them. 

Among  the  Indians  he  was  known  as  "White 
Rabbit."  He  asked  them  why,  and  received  this 
52 


ALFRED  BRUNSON 


53 


tribute  to  his  character:  "Your  head  is  white, 
and  your  appearance  as  innocent  and  harmless  as 
a  rabbit." 

He  served  one  year  as  chaplain  of  the  Thirty- 
first  Regiment  of  the  Wisconsin  Volunteers  dur- 
ing the  Civil  War,  but  as  the  life  was  too  hard 
for  him,  he  was  compelled  to  resign.  His  auto- 
biography is  very  readable  and  abounds  with  in- 
formation and  anecdote. 

He  records,  among  others,  this  amusing  and  in- 
teresting story  of  the  War  of  1812 :  "When  asked 
how  I  could  pray  for  my  enemies,  and  then  shoot 
them,  I  related  the  anecdote  of  the  deacon  in  Con- 
necticut, in  1813,  when  the  British  were  marching 
up  to  burn  the  shipping  at  Middletown.  The 
militia  was  called  out  en  masse,  the  deacon  among 
the  rest,  to  defend  their  property  and  their  homes. 
He  cleaned  up  his  old  musket  and  marched  with 
others  to  the  field.  They  were  drawn  up  in  line 
behind  a  stone  fence,  or  wall,  and  when  the  enemy 
came  within  range,  and  the  word  was  given  to 
fire,  he  leveled  his  gun  and  took  deliberate  aim, 
and  prayed,  'God  have  mercy  on  your  souls,  while 
I  kill  your  bodies !'  and  fired  upon  those  who  were 
aiming  to  kill  him.  The  result  was  the  enemy 
were  defeated,  and  returned  to  their  shipping 
without  doing  the  intended  damage." 

At  camp  meetings  he  was  usually  on  guard  to 
keep  order.  We  can  get  some  idea  of  how  efficient 


54 


METHODIST  HEROES 


he  was  by  an  account  he  gives :  "  'And  now  I'll 
just  tell  you  the  upshot  of  the  affair.  I  have  a 
strong  guard,  besides  a  numerous  patrol,  who  are 
watching  you,  and  will  be  at  your  heels;  and  if 
you  contrive  or  do  mischief,  or  disturb  us  in  our 
worship,  they  will  give  me  your  names,  and  I 
shall  have  you  fined,  and  your  names  will  be  pub- 
lished in  the  newspapers.'  The  preacher  for  the 
evening  then  took  the  stand,  and  a  more  atten- 
tive audience  I  never  saw.  After  the  sermon,  the 
prayer  meetings  were  in  operation,  and  I  was  on 
the  alert  to  keep  and  preserve  order.  But  I  could 
but  be  a  little  amused  at  the  course  things  took. 
Numerous  groups  of  men  were  seen  standing  and 
talking  in  different  parts  of  the  ground,  but  or- 
derly and  harmless,  and,  of  course,  not  the  objects 
of  my  pursuit.  As  they  usually  stood  in  a  circle, 
the  eyes  of  some  one  would  be  in  the  direction  of 
my  approach,  and,  seeing  me  coming,  they  would 
separate,  as  if  fearful  of  capture." 

He  was  sometimes  a  little  odd.  He  once  an- 
nounced to  a  small  congregation  that  on  his  re- 
turn he  would  preach  on  the  words  of  the  devil 
(in  Job).  He  did  so,  and  then  announced  that  he 
would  preach  the  devil's  funeral  sermon  when  he 
came  that  way  again.  His  text  was  Rev.  20. 
1,  2,  3,  10.  "A  backslider  went  to  a  cabinet- 
maker to  induce  him  to  make  a  coffin  and  carry 
it  to  the  meetinghouse.    'I  will  make  it,'  said  he, 


ALFRED  BRUNSON 


55 


'if  you  will  carry  it  to  the  house.  If  you  don't 
carry  it,  you  shall  pay  me  for  making  it.'  But 
this  he  declined,  and  the  scheme  fell  through ;  but 
the  word  went  out  through  the  community  that 
he  had  spoken  for  a  coffin,  and  he  was  frequently 
jeered  on  account  of  it."  After  this  the  people 
came  to  church  better. 

He  had  many  narrow  escapes,  but  none  more 
thrilling  than  his  escape  from  some  wolves.  This 
is  too  long  a  story  to  quote,  and  we  refer  the 
reader  to  his  autobiography  (Vol.  II,  pp.  52-54). 

We  can  do  no  better  than  to  close  with  the  con- 
cluding words  of  his  biography:  "In  purity  of 
motive  and  entire  consecration  to  God  and  his 
cause,  I  could  hardly  hope  for  any  improvement, 
for  in  these  I  have  given  all  I  have,  and  am  to 
him  for  life  or  death,  for  time  and  eternity." 


XIII 


SHADRACH  BOSTWICK,  M.D.,  "PROFESSOR 
IN  BRUSH  COLLEGE" 

If  you  will  look  in  the  Minutes  of  the  Confer- 
ence for  1805,  you  will  find  in  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, "Who  are  located  at  their  own  request?" 
the  name  of  Shadrach  Bostwick.  This  was  the 
close  of  a  faithful  service  of  fourteen  years  in  the 
pastorate,  and  four  years  of  that  time  in  service 
as  presiding  elder.  He  traveled  in  Maryland,  New 
York,  New  England,  and  Ohio.  Why  did  he  ask 
to  be  located?  He  simply  did  so  because  he  had 
married,  and  in  those  days  there  was  not  sufficient 
provision  made  for  a  married  man  in  our  min- 
istry. 

He  had  received  a  medical  education,  and  now 
began  practice  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  after  a 
short  time  removed  to  Canfleld,  where  he  spent 
his  days  in  practice,  and  from  which  he  fre- 
quently sallied  forth  to  preach,  for  he  had  his 
regular  round  of  appointments.  When  he  began 
his  practice  he  had  to  go  on  horseback  to  Pitts- 
burgh for  his  medicines,  a  distance  of  ninety 
miles. 

56 


SHADRACH  BOSTWICK  57 


It  is  said  that  "his  house  was  ever  open  to  the 
itinerant,  and  his  purse  ever  open  liberally  for  his 
support."  "He  would  always  meet  the  preachers 
at  their  week-day  appointments,  when  in  his 
neighborhood,  unless  prevented  by  sickness  or 
professional  calls,  and  was  very  punctual  in  his 
attendance  at  the  quarterly  meetings,  of  which 
for  many  years  he  was  the  mentor  of  the  circuit." 

He  was  a  great  expository  preacher,  and  the 
people  delighted  to  listen  to  him.  He  always 
preached  at  camp  meeting,  and  at  every  quarterly 
meeting.  He  was  a  great  friend  of  the  young 
preachers,  and  did  much  to  help  them  to  become 
effective  workers.  One  who  knew  him  said,  "His 
lectures  by  his  fireside,  his  illustrative  anecdotes, 
and  analysis  of  knotty  Scripture  questions  were 
equal  to  the  lectures  of  modern  theological 
schools." 

It  was  an  age  of  controversy,  and  Dr.  Bostwick 
was  a  gifted  debater,  quick  at  repartee,  and  logi- 
cal in  analysis  and  conclusion.  On  one  occasion 
a  certain  doctor  of  divinity,  in  argument  with 
him,  was  getting  the  worst  of  the  argument  and 
replied  in  Latin.  Dr.  Bostwick  knew  Latin  too, 
and  some  Hebrew,  and  gave  the  doctor  a  few 
words  in  that  language,  and  also  quoted  some 
German  and  French,  which  languages  he  could 
speak  from  having  mingled  with  those  who  spoke 
them.   The  learned  doctor  of  divinity,  when  asked 


58  METHODIST  HEROES 


about  it,  exclaimed:  "Think?  I  don't  know  what 
to  think !  I  always  supposed  that  these  Methodist 
preachers  were  ignorant  men,  not  even  under- 
standing the  English  language.  But  this  man 
knows  it  all,  and  is  even  ahead  of  me,  for  he  has 
the  Hebrew,  German,  and  French  at  his  tongue's 
end,  as  well  as  the  Greek  and  Latin.  He  is  cer- 
tainly a  good  speaker  and  an  able  divine,  and  he 
preached  too  without  notes,  and  with  as  much 
precision  as  if  it  had  all  been  written  out  before 
him.   I  never  saw  such  a  man !" 

This  genial,  big-hearted,  whole-souled  man  did 
much  to  increase  the  effectiveness  of  our  min- 
istry, and  should  not  be  forgotten. 


XIV 


ZENAg  CALDWELL — 1800-1826 

This  brilliant  young  man  was  not  one  of  the 
pioneers  in  the  sense  that  most  of  the  other  men 
named  in  this  series  were,  yet  he  was  a  pioneer 
in  the  true  sense  of  the  term. 

He  was  the  first  young  man  in  Methodism  to  go 
to  college  with  the  definite  idea  of  preparing  to 
preach.  There  were  a  few  men  in  Methodism  who 
were  college  graduates,  but  they  were  converted 
after  they  left  college. 

He  was  born  at  Ipswich,  Massachusetts,  but 
removed  to  Maine  when  a  mere  lad.  He  was  a 
precocious  child,  possessed  with  a  marvelous 
memory.  When  he  had  learned  to  read,  it  was 
his  delight  to  read  the  Bible  and  commit  it  to 
memory.  The  serious  illness  of  his  mother  led  to 
his  conversion.  His  biographer  tells  the  story : 
''He  came  into  the  room,  and  the  nurse  said, 
'Zenas,  you  had  better  go  out,  as  the  doctor  said 
the  room  must  be  kept  still.'  His  mother  an- 
swered, 'Let  him  stay;  and  if  he  has  anything  to 
say,  let  him  say  it.'  He  hastened  to  her  bedside, 
and,  with  the  deepest  emotions,  said,  'Mother, 
59 


60 


METHODIST  HEROES 


can  you  forgive  me?  I  have  been  a  disobedient 
child.'  His  mother  replied,  'Yes;  I  can  forgive 
you  wherein  you  have  done  wrong,  for  God  has 
forgiven  me,  though  I  have  erred  much.'  I  pre- 
sume no  one  thought  he  was  a  disobedient  child. 
He  continued,  with  overflowing  tears,  'How  can  I 
have  you  taken  away  before  I  have  religion?  I 
shall  be  left  like  a  sheep  without  a  shepherd.  Do 
beg  of  father  to  keep  me  out  of  bad  company.' 
His  mother  exhorted  him  to  seek  his  salvation; 
and  he  then  decided  that  he  would  seek  for  it  at 
the  loss  of  all  things." 

Soon  after  a  serious  illness  he  received  his  call 
to  preach.  His  first  thought  was  preparation. 
The  Hon.  E.  L.  Hamline  became  the  teacher  of 
the  school  in  the  district  in  which  the  Caldwells 
lived.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Brown  University 
and  helped  young  Zenas  very  much.  Young 
Caldwell  taught  school  for  several  winters,  and 
thus  acquired  the  necessary  funds  for  his  college 
course. 

In  1821  he  entered  Bowdoin  College  as  a  sopho- 
more. Here  he  exerted  a  marvelous  influence  over 
all  of  the  young  men.  Caldwell  lived  to  be  only 
twenty-six,  but  in  many  ways  he  reminds  us  of 
Henry  Drummond,  who  died  at  forty.  One  of  his 
classmates  was  Franklin  Pierce,  afterward  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  They  were  chums,  and 
our  hero  exerted  an  influence  for  good  over  him. 


ZENAS  CALDWELL 


(II 


Another  friend  was  a  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  who 
was  in  the  class  just  below  him. 

After  he  graduated  from  college  he  took  charge 
of  Hallowell  Academy,  in  1824.  The  following 
year  he  became  the  first  president  and  founder 
of  the  Maine  Wesleyan  Seminary.  Here  he 
labored  hard  and  accomplished  wonders.  Never 
strong,  his  health  gave  way,  and  at  twenty-six 
he  completed  his  eventful  life. 

His  mind  was  a  strong  one,  as  evinced  by  the 
essays  and  poems  appended  to  his  biography. 
His  brother,  Merritt  Caldwell,  became  noted  as 
an  educator. 


XV 


ROBERT  BOYD,  AN  OHIO  METHODIST 
PIONEER 

Our  hero  was  born  of  Presbyterian  parentage 
in  Westmoreland  County,  Pennsylvania.  He  was 
early  apprenticed  to  an  Irishman  to  learn  how  to 
make  spinning  wheels.  It  seems  strange  how  such 
an  industry  flourished  and  is  now  forgotten.  The 
Irishman  was  drunk  so  much  of  the  time  that 
after  a  while  Robert  was  sent  away  to  continue 
his  learning  of  the  trade  with  the  Rev.  Chaddis 
Ohalfant.  This  good  man  was  a  splendid  work- 
man and  a  Methodist  local  preacher.  Robert's 
mother  was  afraid  to  have  him  go  for  fear  he 
would  become  a  Methodist.  The  home  of  his  new 
employer  was  one  of  the  Methodist  preaching 
places  on  the  circuit.  A  few  days  after  his  arrival 
the  Rev.  Thornton  Fleming  preached  there.  He 
was  the  first  Methodist  that  Robert  Boyd  had 
heard.  After  a  struggle  of  some  weeks  he  was 
converted.  He  wrote  to  his  mother  about  it. 
She  was  not  glad,  as  you  might  suppose,  but 
walked  the  floor  all  night  long  in  her  anguish. 
In  the  morning  she  called  on  her  Presbyterian 
62 


ROBERT  BOYD 


63 


pastor,  for  she  thought  her  boy  ruined  because 
he  had  become  a  Methodist.  The  pastor  told 
her  that  she  ought  to  rejoice  instead  of  weep. 

Not  long  after  his  conversion  he  was  asked  to 
become  a  class  leader,  and  consented  on  condition 
that  he  was  "not  to  speak  to  anyone  who  took  the 
bottle,  either  to  take  the  dram,  or  even  to  pass 
it  to  another."  It  was  the  custom  in  that  place 
to  pass  the  bottle  of  rum  around  at  all  gatherings. 
He  became  the  class  leader  of  this  class. 

He  was  drafted  for  the  War  of  1812,  but  his 
master  secured  a  substitute.  He  engaged  in 
Christian  work  more  and  more.  In  1815  he 
joined  the  Baltimore  Conference,  which  at  the 
time  included  all  the  territory  northwest  to 
Pittsburgh.  He  had  eighty  dollars  salary  per 
year,  if  it  were  paid.  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  was 
on  his  circuit,  and  here  he  had  a  good  revival.  He 
was  transferred  to  the  Pittsburgh  Conference  at 
its  first  session  in  1825,  in  which  Conference  he 
always  continued,  and  thenceforth  labored  mostly 
in  Ohio. 

We  little  realize  the  hardships  of  our  Methodist 
forefathers.  Mr.  Boyd,  in  his  autobiography, 
gives  us  a  few  glimpses.  The  circuits  did  not 
usually  own  parsonages,  but  even  if  they  did, 
they  were  poor  buildings.  After  he  had  secured 
a  parsonage  he  had  to  move.  This  is  the  way  he 
did  it  on  one  occasion :  "I  found  a  chance  to  for- 


64 


METHODIST  HEROES 


ward  a  small  wagonload  of  my  movables  at  half 
price,  as  the  wagon  was  going  empty  through  Nor- 
wich to  Zanesville  for  loading  there."  He  moved 
thirty-five  times  during  his  ministry.  He  humor- 
ously says,  "And  perhaps  out  of  a  certain  kind 
of  respect,  I  have  been  occasionally  honored  with 
an  unaccountably  long  move."  Sometimes  the 
beds  were  filthy  and  the  food  unwholesome  in  the 
homes  where  he  was  entertained. 

His  experience  in  traveling  was  interesting. 
Sometimes  he  was  nearly  mired :  "The  usual  pass 
over  a  small  stream  had  become  so  deep  and  diffi- 
cult that  I  dreaded  another  effort  at  that  place, 
so  I  ventured  another.  The  horse,  large  and 
strong,  was  soon  nearly  covered  with  mire.  I 
was  quickly  off,  and  sunk  nearly  as  deep  as  the 
horse.  My  first  effort  was  to  get  out  myself, 
which  was  attended  with  some  difficulty.  I  then 
got  a  stick,  and  drew  my  saddlebags  through  the 
mire,  and  got  them  in  my  hand ;  but  the  horse  was 
still  sinking  deeper,  till  his  hinder  part  was 
nearly  covered.  For  a  short  time  I  had  fears  that 
he  had  found  his  grave.  However,  with  the  aid 
of  my  stick,  and  getting  pretty  deep  in  the  mire, 
I  got  hold  of  the  bridle  reins,  and,  raising  my 
voice,  the  horse  made  a  desperate  effort  with  all 
his  great  strength,  and  barely  succeeded  in  ex- 
tricating himself." 

Again,  the  storms  interfered.    "I  recollect  the 


ROBERT  BOYD 


65 


first  year  I  traveled  that,  under  peculiar  circum- 
stances, I  came  very  near  freezing  to  death.  In 
the  first  place,  the  cold  was  almost  extreme,  and 
the  wind  blew  very  strong.  A  snow  had  fallen 
more  than  two  feet  deep,  and,  during  soft  days, 
had  melted  and  sunk  to  about  one  foot,  and  then 
froze  into  a  crust.  My  way  was  only  a  path  along 
a  spur  of  the  mountain,  eight  miles  without  a 
house,  and  no  track  since  the  snow  fell.  I  was 
four  hours  on  the  way,  and  the  horse's  legs  were 
bleeding,  and  the  horse  covered  with  frozen  sweat. 
Long  before  I  reached  the  cabin  where  I  was  to 
preach  I  had  suffered  all  I  could  suffer,  and  had 
gone  into  a  dull,  sleepy  condition,  and  could  move 
neither  eyelid  nor  mouth.  When  I  got  to  the 
inclosure  in  which  the  cabin  stood  I  was  so  blind 
that  I  could  not  distinguish  the  bars  from  other 
parts  of  the  fence.  Some  one  opened  the  bars,  I 
rode  to  the  door,  got  off,  but  could  not  feel  when 
my  feet  touched  the  ground.  I  went  into  the 
dark  cabin,  where  was  a  large  fire.  Perhaps  I 
got  too  near,  and  soon  fainted,  then  vomited,  and 
became  very  sick,  so  that  I  could  do  nothing  for 
them  that  day.  For  some  time  I  was  unable  to 
speak  a  word.  One  reason  why  I  strove  so  hard 
to  get  over  that  road  was  that,  if  I  failed  there, 
much  of  the  other  work  could  not  be  reached.  I 
missed  no  other  preaching  but  that  day,  though 
I  was  much  out  of  order  for  three  weeks." 


XVI 


RICHMOND  NOLLEY,  MISSIONARY 

When  one  reads  the  early  Minutes,  notes  the 
names,  and  reads  the  brief  obituaries,  he  will  be 
impressed  by  the  fact  that  in  many  cases  the 
service  was  brief  and  the  life  short.  That  is  one 
of  the  indications  of  their  heroism. 

Richmond  Nolley  is  of  this  number.  At  thirty 
years  old  his  work  was  done  and  he  entered  into 
his  reward.  He  was  a  Virginian  by  birth,  but 
when  he  was  a  boy  his  people  moved  to  Georgia. 
Lovick  Pierce  was  a  great  preacher.  At  a  certain 
camp  meeting  near  Sparta,  Georgia,  he  went  into 
the  outskirts  and  preached  to  the  scattered  people 
there.  As  a  result  at  least  one  hundred  were  con- 
verted, and  among  them  was  Richmond  Nolley. 

In  1807,  when  only  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he 
entered  the  ministry  and  began  his  preaching  in 
Wilmington,  North  Carolina.  In  1812,  with  three 
others,  he  was  sent  as  a  missionary  to  Mississippi 
and  Louisiana,  and  the  rest  of  his  ministry  was 
spent  in  this  region.  Sometimes  he  suffered  per- 
secution, sometimes  great  dangers,  at  other  times 
privation.  At  one  time  the  settlers  were  much 
66 


RICHMOND  NOLLEY 


afraid  of  an  Indian  outbreak  and  gathered  in 
their  forts.  Mr.  Nolley  marched  unafraid  from 
fort  to  fort  and  preached  to  the  inmates.  Good 
results  followed.  He  visited  all  parts  of  his  ex- 
tensive parishes.  It  is  said  that  on  one  occasion 
he  followed  a  wagon  track  and  found  a  settler 
about  to  camp.  He  was  asked  if  he  was  a  Meth- 
odist minister,  and  when  the  settler  learned  the 
fact  he  said:  "I  quit  Virginia  to  get  out  of  the 
way  of  them,  and  went  to  a  new  settlement  in 
Georgia,  where  I  thought  that  I  should  be  quite 
beyond  their  reach,  but  they  got  my  wife  and 
daughter  into  the  church.  Then  in  the  late  pur- 
chase— Choctaw  Corner — I  found  a  piece  of  good 
land,  and  was  sure  that  I  would  have  some  peace 
of  the  preachers;  but  here  is  one  of  them  before 
my  wagon  is  unloaded." 

Mr.  Nolley  replied :  "My  friend,  if  you  get  to 
heaven,  you'll  find  Methodist  preachers  there; 
and  if  to  hell,  I'm  afraid  you'll  find  some  there; 
and  you  see  how  it  is  in  this  world,  so  you  had 
better  make  terms  with  us  and  be  at  peace." 

Mr.  Nolley  attended  his  Conference  in  1815 
and  started  back  to  his  field  of  labor  in  company 
with  his  presiding  elder.  They  had  to  pass 
through  a  vast  swamp.  At  the  end  of  it  was 
Hemphill  Creek.  It  was  a  dangerous  stream  to 
cross  at  that  season  of  the  year.  On  November  24 
he  came  to  an  Indian  village  and  secured  a  guide. 


68  METHODIST  HEROES 


When  they  reached  the  stream  it  seemed  to  be 
almost  impassable.  He  felt,  however,  that  he 
must  go  on.  He  left  his  belongings  upon  the  bank 
and  tried  to  ride  across.  The  current  was  swift 
and  carried  horse  and  rider  down  the  stream. 
The  banks  were  steep  and  afforded  no  opportunity 
of  escape.  Horse  and  rider  were  separated,  the 
horse  escaping  on  the  side  on  which  they  entered, 
the  man  escaping  from  the  stream  on  the  other 
side.  He  called  to  the  Indian  to  keep  the  horse 
until  morning,  and  started  for  the  nearest  house, 
which  was  some  two  miles  away.  He  was  able 
to  go  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  when  he  sank 
to  the  ground.  Chilled  and  exhausted,  he  fell 
and  rose  no  more.  The  next  day  a  traveler  found 
his  body,  lying  at  full  length  on  the  ground.  His 
knees  were  muddy,  showing  that  he  had  spent 
almost  his  last  moment  in  prayer.  So  closed  a 
life  of  service. 

Long  years  after  a  minister  who  had  labored  in 
the  same  field  wrote  of  him:  ''It  does  not  appear 
that  he  was  distinguished  either  for  talents  or 
acquirements — his  grand  distinction  lay  in  his 
unquenchable  love  to  Christ,  rendering  his  life 
a  voluntary,  unbroken  scene  of  toil  and  hardship 
and  peril  to  save  the  souls  for  whom  his  Saviour 
died.  His  death  was  in  keeping  with  his  life,  and 
was  worthy  to  be  its  seal  and  crown." 


XVII 


SAMUEL  TUCKER,  MARTYR  TO  DUTY 

In  the  Minutes  of  the  Annual  Conference  for 
the  year  1790  the  first  question  asked  is,  "Who 
are  admitted  on  trial?"  Then  follow  the  names 
of  men  filling  two  columes  of  fine  print.  The 
sixth  name  on  the  list  is  Samuel  Tucker.  In  the 
appointments,  come  down  to  the  third  district 
(Francis  Toythres,  elder),  and  go  down  the  list 
and  you  will  find  the  place  Limestone,  and  op- 
posite it  the  names  Samuel  Tucker,  Joseph  Lil- 
lard.  In  the  next  year's  Minutes  we  find  the 
name,  Joseph  Lillard,  but  not  that  of  Samuel 
Tucker.  What  had  become  of  him?  We  would 
never  have  known  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  fact 
that  James  B.  Finley  wrote  his  autobiography 
and  in  it  tells  the  reason  why.  He  was  evidently 
proceeding  to  his  appointment  in  company  with 
a  band  of  settlers.  We  will  allow  Mr.  Finley  to 
tell  the  tragic  story  : 

"The  Indians  attacked  three  boats,  two  of 
which  were  taken,  and  all  the  passengers  de- 
stroyed. The  other  barely  escaped,  having  lost 
all  the  men  on  board  except  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tucker, 
69 


70 


METHODIST  HEROES 


a  Methodist  missionary,  who  was  sent  by  the 
bishop  to  Kentucky.  Mr.  Tucker  was  wounded  in 
several  places,  but  he  fought  manfully.  The  In- 
dians got  into  a  canoe  and  paddled  for  the  boat, 
determined  to  board  it;  but  the  women  loaded 
the  rifles  of  their  husbands,  and  handed  them  to 
Mr.  Tucker,  who  took  such  deadly  aim,  every  shot 
making  the  number  in  the  canoe  less,  that  they 
abandoned  all  hope  of  reaching  the  boat  and  re- 
turned to  the  shore. 

"After  the  conflict,  this  noble  man  fell  from 
sheer  exhaustion,  and  the  women  were  obliged  to 
take  the  oars  and  manage  the  boat  as  best  they 
could.  They  were  enabled  to  effect  a  landing  at 
Limestone,  now  Maysville;  and,  a  few  days  after, 
their  protector  died  of  his  wounds,  and  they 
followed  him,  weeping,  to  his  grave.  Peace  to  his 
dust,  till  it  shall  be  bidden  to  rise!  Though  no 
stone  marks  the  spot  where  this  hero-missionary 
lies,  away  from  his  home  and  kindred,  among 
strangers  in  a  strange  land,  his  dust  is  sacred  till 
the  resurrection  morn,  when  it  shall  come  forth 
reanimate  to  inherit  immortality. 

"The  Indians,  jealous  of  the  white  man,  and 
fearful  of  losing  their  immense  and  profitable 
hunting  grounds  from  the  great  tide  of  emigration 
which  was  constantly  pouring  in  upon  them,  were 
wrought  up  to  the  highest  pitch  of  fury  and  de- 
termined to  guard,  as  far  as  possible,  both  passes 


SAMUEL  TUCKER 


71 


to  it,  namely,  the  Ohio  River  and  the  Old  Crab 
Orchard  Road,  or  Boone's  old  trace,  leading  from 
the  southern  portion  of  Kentucky  to  North  Caro- 
lina. They  attacked  all  the  boats  they  had  any 
probability  of  being  able  to  take,  using  all  the 
strategy  of  which  they  were  masters  to  decoy 
them  to  the  shore.  Many  boats  were  taken  and 
many  lives  were  lost  through  the  deceit  and 
treachery  of  the  Indians  and  white  spies  em- 
ployed by  them." 

A  few  months  later  Mr.  Finley  and  his  family 
passed  over  this  course  on  the  river  and  heard 
the  story,  and  the  Indians  tried  to  decoy  them  to 
the  shore  to  kill  them. 

Samuel  Tucker  was  a  probationer  in  the  Con- 
ference, and  so  no  mention  of  his  death  was  made 
in  the  Minutes. 


XVIII 


GEORGE  HARMON,  TRAVELING  COMPAN- 
ION OF  BISHOP  McKENDREE 

It  was  said  of  George  Harmon  that  he  knew 
the  territory  of  Methodism  in  western  New  York 
better  than  any  other  minister  of  our  church  in 
his  time.  He  traveled  it  as  pioneer  circuit  rider, 
superintended  it  as  presiding  elder,  and  shep- 
herded many  a  flock  within  its  bounds  as  a 
pastor. 

As  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  the  early  days 
were  a  time  of  controversy.  In  some  places  the 
Baptists  were  our  chief  rivals  in  entering  a  new 
field  of  work.  Many  debates  were  held.  Our 
ministers  were  usually  prepared,  and  so  were  not 
often  defeated.  Mr.  Harmon  had  a  revival  in  a 
little  community.  As  he  was  about  to  leave  the 
report  came  to  him  that  a  Baptist  elder  was  wait- 
ing for  his  departure  so  that  he  might  enter  the 
field  and  capture  the  converts  for  his  church.  Mr. 
Harmon  sent  a  local  preacher  to  fill  his  own 
engagements  and  stayed  longer  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, continuing  the  revival  services  and  receiv- 
ing several  more  converts.  This  firmly  established 
Methodism  in  the  place. 

72 


GEORGE  HARMON 


7:; 


On  another  occasion  Mr.  Harmon  was  chal- 
lenged by  a  Baptist  minister  to  debate.  Of  course 
the  challenge  was  accepted.  The  Baptist  did  not 
come,  but  sent  a  friend  in  his  stead.  The  method 
of  procedure  was  left  to  Mr.  Harmon.  He  chose 
to  preach,  taking  for  his  text,  "I  also  will  show 
mine  opinion."  In  this  sermon  he  laid  down  the 
proposition  usually  iu  controversy  between  the 
Methodists  and  Baptists.  In  his  reply  his  oppo- 
nent passed  rather  lightly  over  the  points  until 
he  came  to  the  subject  of  baptism.  On  this  he 
made  his  chief  argument.  He  made  the  proposi- 
tion that  no  one  "was  authorized  to  baptize  who 
had  not  been  baptized  himself."  Mr.  Harmon 
asked  if  he  might  ask  a  question. 

"Certainly,"  was  the  reply. 

"Who  baptized  the  apostles?" 

"John  the  Baptist,"  was  the  answer. 

"And  who  baptized  John  the  Baptist?" 

No  answer  was  given,  and  the  Baptist  brother 
left,  "highly  excited."  Mr.  Harmon  was  very 
successful  in  that  place,  forming  a  society  of  one 
hundred  members.  He  was  the  father  of  Meth- 
odism in  Ithaca,  New  York. 

In  his  work  he  encountered  many  perils.  He 
has  left  a  brief  account  of  some  of  them.  We 
give  one  which  occurred  in  the  year  1812:  "I  held 
a  quarterly  meeting  in  the  north  part  of  the 
district  [Susquehanna],  my  next  being  on  the 


74  METHODIST  HEROES 


south  part.  I  had  to  pass  through  the  sixty 
miles  of  wilderness.  I  took  what  was  called  the 
Lycoming  route.  It  was  in  the  winter,  the  snow 
being  two  and  three  feet  deep.  I  lodged  all  night 
at  Spaulding's  tavern,  near  the  head  of  the  To- 
wanda.  I  started  early  the  next  morning,  and 
rode  some  eight  miles  to  Brother  Soper's,  on  the 
Lycoming,  and  took  breakfast.  I  then  set  out  for 
Williamsport.  When  I  came  to  what  was  con- 
sidered the  most  dangerous  crossing  place  on  the 
route  I  found  the  river  frozen  over  about  one 
third  of  the  way  on  each  side.  The  snow,  as 
above  stated,  was  from  two  to  three  feet  deep, 
and  no  one  had  passed  to  open  the  road.  I 
paused  but  for  a  moment.  I  could  not  go  back 
to  Brother  Soper's,  some  ten  or  fifteen  miles,  the 
last  house  I  had  passed;  the  sun  had  gone  down. 
If  I  could  cross  there  was  a  log  tavern  within 
about  a  mile.  I  knew  the  greatest  danger  would 
be  in  getting  on  the  ice  on  the  other  side,  for 
should  the  ice  break  I  and  my  horse  would  both 
go  under.  I  must  venture  it.  I  saw  no  other 
course.  I  was  on  a  very  spirited  and  powerful 
horse.  I  urged  him  forward,  and  when  his  feet 
touched  the  bottom  his  head  went  under  water. 
As  he  arose  on  his  hind  feet  I  put  both  spurs  into 
his  flanks  and  he  at  once  bounded  off  into  the 
river.  The  water  was  so  deep  that  it  ran  over 
the  tops  of  my  boots  as  I  sat  upon  his  back.  I 


GEORGE  HARMON 


75 


got  through  without  further  difficulty.  When  I 
reached  the  tavern  my  first  care  was  to  have  my 
horse  attended  to.  But  when  I  attempted  to  take 
off  my  boots  they  were  frozen  to  my  stockings.  I 
bought  half  a  pint  of  rum  and  bathed  myself 
with  it.  I  slept  comfortably  and  took  no  cold. 
But  my  poor  horse!  The  fatigue  of  worrying 
through  the  snow,  and  so  often  fording  the  river, 
so  affected  his  limbs  that  I  had  to  part  with  him 
at  great  sacrifice." 

Here  is  another  of  his  adventures  in  the  year 
1813: 

"When  I  reached  the  last  house  in  the  settle- 
ment it  was  one  o'clock.  I  took  some  refresh- 
ment and  fed  my  horse.  The  family  told  me  it 
was  doubtful  whether  I  could  get  through,  it 
being  early  in  the  spring,  and  there  being  nothing 
to  guide  me  but  marked  trees.  Not  even  a  foot- 
man had  been  through  since  last  autumn,  and  it 
was  probable  that  the  path  would  be  blocked  up 
by  fallen  trees.  Being  on  an  excelleut  horse,  I 
ventured  on,  but  had  not  gone  far  before  my  diffi- 
culties commenced.  Trees  were  blown  down,  and 
the  path,  at  best  a  blind  one,  was  blocked  up.  In 
some  places  I  had  to  ride  ten  or  fifteen  rods 
around  to  get  through,  and  then  work  my  way  to 
find  my  path  again.  At  length  it  began  to  be 
dark,  and  in  a  short  time  I  could  not  see  the  path 
or  the  marked  trees.  My  horse  seemed  bewildered. 


76  METHODIST  HEROES 


In  the  midst  of  my  perplexity  I  thought  I  heard 
the  sound  of  an  ax.  I  started  for  it  as  straight 
as  possible,  and  soon  saw  a  light  and  a  man 
chopping.  He  had  taken  up  a  lot  in  the  wilder- 
ness, there  being  no  house  within  six  or  eight 
miles.  He  had  built  a  large  fire  and  was  chop- 
ping by  its  light.  As  soon  as  I  thought  I  was  near 
enough  to  make  him  hear  me  I  hailed  him.  He 
was  astonished  to  hear  a  human  voice  at  that 
distance  in  the  wilderness,  and  told  me  to  stop 
immediately,  as  I  must  be  on  the  brink  of  a 
precipice.  There  was  a  gulf  between  us,  and  he 
would  try  to  get  to  me  with  a  torch  light.  Of 
course  I  came  to  a  full  stop.  When  he  reached 
the  place  I  was  astonished  to  find  that  not  more 
than  a  rod  before  me  was  a  yawning  gulf,  and  a 
steep  pitch  of  some  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  down. 
The  cold  chills  ran  through  me.  The  good  woods- 
man hunted  around  and  found  the  path."  He 
had  to  go  some  fifteen  miles  further  before  he 
finally  found  shelter. 

In  1814  Mr.  Harmon  traveled  for  some  time 
with  Bishop  McKendree.  He  was  a  member  of 
several  General  Conferences,  and  for  many  years 
a  presiding  elder.  The  last  years  of  his  long  life 
were  spent  as  a  superannuate. 


XIX 


JOHN  CLARK,  INDIAN  MISSIONARY 

The  large  family  of  former  days  is  now  the  ex- 
ception, but  it  was  not  so  two  or  three  generations 
ago.  John  Clark  was  one  of  twelve  children, 
eleven  of  whom  grew  up.  His  parents  were  Cal- 
vinistic  Baptists.  He  was  born  in  1797,  at  Hart- 
ford, New  York.  When  he  was  eight  years  old 
his  father  lost  his  eyesight  and  his  farm  at  about 
the  same  time.  After  that  time  the  son  was 
little  at  home.  His  advantages  were  very  limited. 
When  eighteen  years  old  he  became  an  apprentice 
in  the  tanning  business,  serving  for  nearly  three 
years.  "Previous  to  his  leaving  Mr.  Rawson  he 
had  been  converted,  and  though  his  employer  was 
an  unconverted  man,  and  was  called  an  infidel, 
yet  he  became  convinced  that  his  apprentice  must 
become  a  preacher.  Not  a  word  had  John  uttered 
on  tli is  subject,  even  to  his  Christian  friends;  yet 
his  irreligious  master  had  marked  his  faithful- 
ness, his  devotion,  and  his  increasing  gifts,  until 
the  question  was  clear  to  his  own  mind.  Of  his 
own  accord,  he  introduced  the  subject,  and  pro- 
posed to  relinquish  all  farther  claim  to  his  serv- 
77 


78  METHODIST  HEROES 


ices,  although  these  were  then  more  profitable  to 
him  than  at  any  former  time,  as  the  apprentice 
was  well  skilled  in  his  craft.  How  strong  and 
clear  must  have  been  the  evidence  of  the  young 
man's  call  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  to  produce 
such  an  effect  upon  his  employer!" 

He  was  admitted  to  the  New  York  Conference 
in  1820  and  sent  to  a  little  town  in  Massachusetts. 
In  the  middle  of  the  year  he  was  taken  up  and 
sent  to  Saratoga.  "The  compensation  which  the 
ministers  received  was  but  a  pittance,  for  they 
seldom  realized  their  whole  claims.  They  labored, 
but  their  hire  was  very  uncertain ;  and  our  young 
itinerant  found  at  the  end  of  the  year  that  his 
receipts  only  amounted  to  thirty  dollars!  Yet, 
only  a  few  years  since,  when  speaking  of  those 
times,  and  of  those  small  receipts,  he  playfully 
remarked  that  he  made  quite  a  respectable  pay- 
ment on  his  note,  which  he  had  given  for  a  horse, 
saddle,  and  bridle,  which  he  had  purchased  on 
credit  before  going  to  his  circuit.  It  ought  also 
to  be  recorded  that,  besides  the  above  sum  in 
cash,  he  received  the  following  articles  as  pres- 
ents: one  pair  of  woolen  socks,  flannel  for  one 
wrapper,  and  cloth  for  one  pair  of  pantaloons!" 

In  1828  he  was  made  presiding  elder  of  the 
Plattsburg  District.  In  those  days  it  was  a  re- 
markable proceeding  to  put  at  the  head  of  a  dis- 
trict a  man  of  only  eight  years'  experience.  The 


JOHN  CLARK 


79 


first  time  that  he  took  his  place  in  the  bishop's 
council,  to  nominate  ministers  for  the  several 
charges  in  his  district,  he  encountered  the  Ajax 
of  the  board  in  the  person  of  an  old  presiding 
elder,  who  had  not  been  accustomed  to  defeat. 

He  nominated  Brother  C   for  Plattsburg, 

when  the  old  veteran  said,  "You  cannot  have 
him;  I  want  him  myself."  A  few  words  of  debate 
followed,  when  the  bishop  proposed  to  pass  Platts- 
burg for  the  present.  This  was  done,  and  a  man 
wns  put  down  for  another  place.  But  the  time 
arrived  when  Plattsburg  must  be  provided  for, 

and  Mr.  Clark  again  nominated  Brother  C  . 

This  brought  the  veteran  to  his  feet,  and  in  tones 
and  terms  of  severity  he  rebuked  the  youthful 
presiding  elder.  He  said,  ''I  have  aided  and  in- 
structed that  boy ;  I  have  furnished  him  with 
books,  been  a  father  to  him,  and  made  him  all 
that  he  is;  and  this  is  the  return  for  all  my  kind- 
ness."  And  much  more  in  the  same  strain. 

After  the  old  elder  had  taken  his  seat,  some 
time  passed  in  silence,  when  the  bishop  asked 
Mr.  Clark  if  he  had  anything  to  say.  He  then 
arose,  leaned  over  the  chair,  with  his  eyes  fixed 
upon  the  floor,  and  in  humble  accents  said : 
"Bishop,  all  that  this  aged  father  has  said  is  true. 
He  has  been  a  father  to  me,  he  has  made  me  all 
that  I  am;  I  shall  never  be  able  to  repay  him." 
And  then,  standing  erect,  he  added:  "But,  sir, 


80  METHODIST  HEROES 


since  you  have  seen  fit  to  put  me  in  my  present 
position,  I  am,  in  the  matter  of  rights,  exactly  his 
equal.  I  know  my  rights,  and  am  prepared  to 
maintain  them ;  and  he  must  not  expect  that  I 
will  attempt  to  cancel  my  obligations  to  him  by 
sacrificing  the  interests  of  my  district."  He  then 
gave  his  reasons  at  length  for  believing  that  the 
best  interests"  of  the  whole  work  would  be  sub- 
served by  the  appointment  of  Brother  C  

to  Plattsburg.    He  took  his  seat;  and  the  bishop 

said,  "Put  Brother  C  down  for  Plattsburg." 

For  the  bold  and  manly  course  taken  by  Mr. 
Clark,  he  received  the  thanks  of  several  of  the 
presiding  elders,  who  said  that  it  was  the  first 
time  that  the  old  hero  had  been  withstood  and  de- 
feated. It  is  proper  to  remark  that  the  aged 
father  never  respected  or  esteemed  him  less  than 
before,  for  he  was  a  man  of  both  good  sense  and 
piety,  and  is  now  with  God. 

In  1832  he  was  a  member  of  the  General  Con- 
ference at  Philadelphia.  Here  an  appeal  was 
made  for  missionaries  to  the  Indians  in  Michigan. 
He  offered  himself  for  the  work  and  was  accepted, 
being  appointed  superintendent.  It  took  him 
twenty-six  days  to  go  from  New  York  to  Sault 
Ste.  Marie.  He  remained  among  the  Indians  for 
nine  years.  While  here  he  also  worked  among 
the  soldiers.  He  was  called  "White  Eagle"  by  the 
Indians.    In  1841  he  felt  the  call  of  the  beyond 


JOHN  CLARK 


81 


and  went  to  Texas.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the 
General  Conference  of  1844  from  Texas.  Here  he 
took  the  Northern  side  and  thus  alienated  and 
angered  his  Texan  friends.  This  made  it  neces- 
sary for  him  to  be  transferred,  and  the  Troy  Con- 
ference was  again  his  home,  and  he  was  imme- 
diately made  presiding  elder.  He  was  a  pastor 
of  a  church  in  Troy  for  a  brief  time,  and  then 
presiding  elder  again.  All  this  time  his  heart 
was  in  the  freer  life  of  the- West.  He  had,  in  fact, 
become  a  Western  man.  So  in  1852  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Rock  River  Conference  and  ap- 
pointed to  the  Clark  Street  Church,  then  one  of 
the  best  in  the  city.  Here  he  was  the  pastor  of 
Mrs.  Garrett,  founder  of  Garrett  Biblical  Insti- 
tute, and  his  biographer  claims  for  him  a  large 
share  in  aiding  her  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
she  should  do  so  noble  a  work. 

In  1851  the  cholera  raged  on  the  continent. 
When  it  reached  Chicago  Mr.  Clark  was  inde- 
fatigable in  relieving  the  suffering  aud  comforting 
the  dying.  At  last  the  dread  disease  claimed  him 
for  its  victim,  and  he  passed  away  July  11,  1854. 

He  was  a  member  of  six  General  Conferences. 
Sometimes  he  was  a  great  preacher.  When  he 
was  a  presiding  elder  in  Vermont  a  certain  col- 
lege professor  preached  at  a  camp  meeting  where 
Mr.  Clark  had  charge.  It  was  a  wonderful  ser- 
mon.   Every  minister  on  the  ground  refused  to 


82  METHODIST  HEROES 


follow,  and  all  united  in  asking  Mr.  Clark  to 
preach.  This  he  did,  equaling  the  great  sermon 
of  the  morning  in  a  wonderful  discourse  of  two 
hours,  holding  the  attention  to  the  close. 

In  his  work  among  the  Indians  he  took  long 
journeys  by  canoe,  and  spent  weeks  away  from 
civilization.  He  won  many  to  the  Kingdom 
wherever  he  went. 


XX 


WILLIAM  BEAUCHAMP,  ALMOST  A 
BISHOP 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  one  whose  name 
was  known  in  all  the  churches  of  the  early  days. 
He  may  not  have  passed  through  as  many  dra- 
matic situations  as  others  in  this  series  did;  his 
name,  however,  is  one  that  should  not  be  for- 
gotten by  the  church. 

Mr.  Beauchamp  (pronouuced  Beecham)  was 
born  in  Kent  County,  Delaware,  in  1776.  When 
fifteen  he  joined  the  church,  and  when  nineteen 
began  to  preach.  His  ministry  was  in  the  wilder- 
ness and  in  the  city,  on  the  frontier  and  in  the 
large  cities  of  New  York  and  Boston,  in  New 
England  and  in  Ohio.  He  died  in  Indiana  in 
1824.  He  was  a  man  of  limited  advantages,  but 
well  educated.  In  fact,  for  about  six  years  he 
taught  a  private  school  in  the  island  of  Nan- 
tucket. It  is  said  that  he  was  well  read  in  his- 
tory, philosophy,  and  in  mathematics,  and  fa- 
miliar with  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew. 

In  1815  he  removed  to  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  to  be- 
come the- editor  of  the  Western  Christian  Monitor, 
83 


84 


METHODIST  HEROES 


a  monthly,  one  of  the  first  papers  published  by 
the  Methodists.  We  have  seeu  only  two  copies  of 
it.  It  was  published  for  a  year  only  (1816),  and 
then  discontinued  because  it  was  published  at  a 
loss.  The  late  Bishop  Clark  had  a  copy  before 
him  in  1859.  Mr.  Beauchamp,  one  of  the  earliest 
authors  of  Methodism,  had  published  "An  Essay 
on  the  Truth  of  the  Christian  Religion."  It  was 
published  in  Marietta,  Ohio,  in  1811.  In  1824  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  General  Conference. 
There  were  four  candidates  for  bishop.  Bishops 
Hedding  and  Soule  were  elected.  Mr.  Beauchamp 
was  third,  and  lacked  only  three  votes  of  being 
elected.  John  Emory  was  fourth.  I  once  asked 
a  minister  who  was  perfectly  familiar  with  early 
Methodist  traditions  why  Mr.  Beauchamp  was 
not  elected,  and  he  told  me  it  was  because  he  was 
a  literary  man,  and  some  of  the  friends  of  the 
church  held  that  it  would  damage  the  church  to 
have  such  a  man  a  bishop. 

He  was  the  first  ordained  Methodist  preacher 
to  preach  on  Nantucket  Island,  and  during  his 
pastorate  there  built  the  first  Methodist  church 
on  the  island.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
Mount  Carmel,  Illinois,  and  named  it  and  sur- 
veyed it  himself,  but  did  not  cease  to  preach. 

He  was  exceedingly  versatile.  He  knew  much 
about  medicine.  He  built  a  house  and  a  mill, 
made  a  clock,  repaired  watches,  and  was  fond  of 


WILLIAM  BEAUCHAMP 


85 


working  at  the  cabinet  business.  He  could  work 
in  brass,  iron,  and  wood.  He  was  fond  of  music 
and  encouraged  its  use.  In  fact,  from  his  youth 
he  was  hungry  for  knowledge  of  all  kinds.  His 
judgment  was  so  sound  that  it  is  said  cases  were 
taken  out  of  court  for  him  to  settle. 

He  was  a  great  preacher,  his  sermons  leaving 
a  lasting  impression.  From  what  his  contem- 
poraries said  of  him,  he  must  have  been  an  ex- 
pository preacher.  In  the  days  when  shouting 
was  common  at  the  preaching  service,  it  is  said 
that  the  people  seldom  shouted  under  his  preach- 
ing, but  all  listened  intently,  and  often  their  faces 
were  bathed  in  tears.  He  was  unassuming  in 
manner.  He  was  about  five  feet  ten  inches  in 
height ;  had  a  light  form,  hair  nearly  auburn  in 
color,  rather  a  sallow  complexion,  and  a  pleasing 
face,  which  lighted  up  when  his  interest  was 
aroused.  He  did  much  good.  His  last  position 
was  as  presiding  elder  of  the  Indiana  District, 
including  the  whole  State.  He  did  great  and 
heroic  work  wherever  he  labored.  Not  all  of  his 
life  was  given  to  the  ministry,  but  all  of  it  was 
given  to  doing  good. 


XXI 


PHILIP  GATCH,  PREACHER  AND  JUDGE 

It  is  remarkable  how  many  men  other  lands 
and  other  denominations  have  furnished  to  Meth- 
odism. The  parents  of  Philip  Gateh  were  born 
in  Prussia  and  came  to  this  country  some  time 
before  the  year  1727.  His  mother's  maiden  name 
was  Burgin,  and  her  family  was  originally  from 
Burgundy.  They  settled  near  Baltimore,  and  it 
was  here  that  Philip  was  born  in  the  year  1751. 

The  first  Methodist  preacher  that  he  ever  saw 
was  Nathan  Perigo,  one  of  the  three  preachers 
raised  up  as  the  result  of  the  preaching  of  Robert 
Strawbridge.  Under  Mr.  Perigo's  preaching 
Philip  was  awakened,  but  not  converted.  For 
some  time  he  was  under  deep  conviction. 

Methods  of  conversion  differ;  the  fact  is  the 
same.  Let  him  tell  the  story:  "On  the  26th  day 
of  April  I  attended  a  prayer  meeting.  After  re- 
maining some  time  I  gave  up  all  hopes  and  left 
the  house.  I  felt  that  I  was  too  bad  to  remain 
where  the  people  were  worshiping  God.  At  length 
a  friend  came  out  to  me  and  requested  me  to 
return  to  the  meeting;  believing  him  to  be  a  good 
86 


PHILIP  GATCH 


87 


man,  I  returned  with  him,  and,  under  the  deepest 
conviction  bowed  myself  before  the  Lord,  and 
said  in  my  heart,  'If  thou  wilt  give  me  power  to 
call  on  thy  name  how  thankful  will  I  be!'  Imme- 
diately I  felt  the  power  of  God  to  affect  me,  body 
and  soul.  It  went  through  my  whole  system.  I 
felt  like  crying  aloud.  God  said,  by  his  Spirit, 
to  my  soul,  'My  power  is  present  to  heal  thy  soul, 
if  thou  wilt  but  believe.'  I  instantly  submitted 
to  the  operation  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  my 
poor  soul  was  set  at  liberty.  I  felt  as  if  I  had 
got  into  a  new  world.  I  was  certainly  brought 
from  hell's  dark  door,  and  made  nigh  unto  God 
by  the  blood  of  Jesus." 

At  first  he  was  opposed  by  his  people,  but  they 
were  converted  too,  and  the  opposition  ceased. 
Bishop  Asbury  soon  set  him  at  work  as  a  local 
preacher.  In  1772  he  was  sent  into  New  Jersey, 
there  establishing  the  work.  As  the  result  of  his 
labors  fifty-two  joined  the  church.  In  1773  he 
joined  the  Conference  along  with  William  Wat- 
ters,  the  first  American  native-born  Methodist 
minister. 

His  next  appointment  was  in  Virginia.  Here 
he  heard  the  famous  Captain  Webb  preach.  Here 
too  he  encountered  the  strong  opposition  of  the 
rector  of  the  parish.  He  also  found  opposition 
of  a  different  sort.  The  following  is  one  of  his 
experiences:  ''One  Sabbath  morning,  while  on  my 


88 


METHODIST  HEROES 


way  to  my  appointment,  accompanied  by  Fred- 
erick Bonner,  late  of  Green  County,  then  a  youth 
of  about  eighteen  years,  I  was  met  by  two  men, 
of  whom  I  had  no  knowledge,  of  a  stout  and  rough 
appearance.  They  caught  hold  of  my  arms,  and 
turned  them  in  opposite  directions  with  such  vio- 
lence that  I  thought  my  shoulders  would  be  dis- 
located; and  it  caused  the  severest  pain  I  ever 
felt.  The  torture,  I  concluded,  must  resemble  that 
of  the  rack.  My  shoulders  were  so  bruised  that 
they  turned  black,  and  it  was  a  considerable  time 
before  I  recovered  the  use  of  them.  My  lungs 
remained  seriously  affected,  and  my  system  was 
so  debilitated  that  my  prospect  for  serving  the 
church  as  formerly  failed.  I  thought  that  I  must 
of  necessity  retire  from  the  work.  This  to  me 
was  a  gloomy  reflection,  and  my  mind  became 
much  rejected." 

In  1778  he  married,  and  soon  after,  his  health 
becoming  very  poor,  he  was  left  without  appoint- 
ment to  work  wherever  he  could.  In  1777  he  was 
chosen  one  of  five  "to  take  the  general  superin- 
tendency  in  the  place  of  the  incumbent,  who,  with 
his  countrymen,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  As- 
bury,  returned  to  England."  He  was  at  the  head 
of  the  movement  in  regard  to  the  administration 
of  the  sacraments  that  led  to  separation  from  the 
Established  Church  and  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Asbury  as  bishop.    After  a  time  Mr.  Gatch  re- 


PHILIP  GATCH 


8!) 


moved  to  the  State  of  Ohio,  settling  near  New- 
town, in  the  forks  of  the  Little  Miami  River.  He 
preached  frequently. 

In  1808,  or  just  before,  he  was  appointed  asso- 
ciate judge  of  Clermont  County,  and  served  three 
terms  of  seven  years  each,  and  then  retired  volun- 
tarily. He  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  Ohio.  He  was  much  esteemed  for 
his  sound  judgment.  During  court  he  usually 
preached  once  or  twice.  At  the  Conference  of 
1790  he  introduced  two  laws  which  remain  as  law 
for  us  to-day.  First,  the  law  that  members  of  a 
church  should  be  tried  by  the  society  to  which 
they  belonged.  Previously  ministers  might  try 
the  members  where  they  pleased.  Second,  the 
ordination  of  local  preachers  as  local  deacons. 
Dr.  Coke  was  opposed  to  both  measures,  but  they 
were  passed  by  the  Conference. 

He  is  thus  described  by  a  contemporary  who 
knew  him  in  his  prime:  "He  was  tall  and  well 
proportioned ;  his  hair  was  black,  and  he  wore 
it  long,  extending  over  the  cape  of  his  coat.  His 
dress  was  neat,  with  a  straight-breasted  coat,  and 
in  every  respect  as  became  a  Methodist  preacher 
of  that  day.  He  had  a  most  impressive  coun- 
tenance. It  showed  no  ordinary  intellectual  de- 
velopment, united  with  sweetness  of  disposition, 
unconquerable  firmness,  and  uncommon  devo- 
tion." 


XXII 


VALENTINE  COOK,  ORATOR 

One  would  hardly  imagine  that  Captain  Cook, 
the  navigator,  had  any  relation  to  Methodism, 
even  remotely.  The  father  of  Valentine  Cook 
was  second  cousin  to  that  famous  man.  The 
family  came  to  this  country  before  the  War  of  the 
Revolution.  For  a  time  he  was  one  of  the  stu- 
dents of  Cokesbury  College.  In  1787  he  began 
to  preach.  In  1800  he  took  charge  of  Bethel 
Seminary,  in  Kentucky,  the  second  educational 
institution  established  by  the  Methodists  in 
America.  After  a  few  years'  work  here  he 
became  principal  of  an  academy  at  Harrods- 
burg,  Kentucky.  In  1819  he  made  a  preaching 
trip  to  the  East,  visiting  places  where  his  early 
ministry  had  been.  He  made  a  deep  impression 
wherever  he  went. 

He  was  a  man  subject  to  great  temptations, 
as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  account  given 
by  him  to  one  of  his  friends:  "The  day  I  left 
Uniontown  and  commenced  the  ascent  of  the 
Allegheny  Mountains,  the  devil  came  to  me  and 
said :  'You  are  one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  the 
Methodist  Church ;  your  fame  has  already  reached 
90 


VALENTINE  COOK 


the  Eastern  cities.  If  you  will  change  your  man- 
ner in  the  pulpit  a  little,  make  your  discourses 
more  erudite,  your  style  more  florid,  your  manner 
less  earnest  and  boisterous,  you  will  be  admired 
by  the  learned;  the  papers  will  be  filled  with 
your  praise.  New  York,  Philadelphia,  aud  Balti- 
more will  throng  the  churches  where  you  preach.' 
'Ah,  Satan,  is  that  you?'  said  the  venerable 
man,  as  he  reined  up  his  horse  to  a  standstill. 
'1  will  not  go  one  step  farther  unless  you  leave.' 
Leaving  the  road  a  few  hundred  yards,  I  found 
the  bottom  of  a  deep  ravine,  where  I  thought  my- 
self safe  from  observation.  I  dismounted,  tied 
my  horse,  fell  on  my  knees,  head  to  the  ground; 
the  snow  was  about  six  inches  deep.  I  had  been 
there  but  a  few  minutes  when  the  devil  again 
accosted  me,  and  said :  'You  look  for  all  the  world 
like  a  bear  (his  dress  was  a  black  overcoat  with 
long  cape)  ;  some  hunter  will  soon  see  you  and 
will  shoot  you.'  I  sprang  up  and  looked  in  every 
direction  for  the  hunter,  but  saw  no  one.  'Ah, 
Satan,  that's  you  again.  Let  them  shoot;  I  will 
not  leave  till  you  have.' "  Here  he  wrestled  for 
a  long  time;  here  he  got  the  victory.  Satan  was 
bruised  beneath  his  feet;  angels  came  and  min- 
istered to  him.  He  went  on  his  way  rejoicing,  re- 
solved to  ''preach  the  preaching"  which  his 
Master  bade  him,  without  any  reference  to  self- 
aggrandizement. 


92 


METHODIST  HEROES 


His  memory  was  wonderful.  It  was  said  of 
liim  that  "so  thoroughly  posted  was  he  in  the 
teaching  of  the  inspired  penmen,  that  no  passage 
could  be  called  for  that  he  was  not  able  to  repeat, 
or  to  which  he  could  not  turn  in  a  few  minutes." 
Yet  he  was  an  absent-minded  man.  "On  one  occa- 
sion he  started  for  an  appointment  some  six  or 
eight  miles  from  his  residence.  When  but  a  short 
distance  from  the  chapel  at  which  he  was  to 
preach,  he  turned  aside  into  the  barrens,  as  was 
his  custom,  for  the  purpose  of  spending  a  while 
in  private  devotion.  On  remounting  his  horse 
and  returning  to  the  road,  he  unwittingly  took 
the  wrong  end,  and  was  jogging  along  toward 
home,  humming  a  favorite  tune,  when  met  by 
some  of  his  friends  who  were  going  to  hear  him 
preach.  "Well,  brethren,"  said  the  old  gentleman, 
very  pleasantly,  "are  you  not  going  the  wrong 
way?"  They  thought  not.  "We  are  going  to 
Bibb's  Chapel  to  hear  you  preach,  and  this  is  cer- 
tainly the  right  road."  He  appeared  much  aston- 
ished, but,  yielding  the  point,  he  turned  about  and 
accompanied  them  to  the  church,  being  much 
more  inclined  to  laugh  at  the  blunder  than  any 
of  the  company. 

He  was  a  man  of  great  faith,  and  by  many  of 
his  time  he  was  thought  to  have  the  gift  of 
healing. 

Mr.  Cook  was  remarkably  fond  of  music,  in- 


VALENTINE  COOK 


93 


strumental  as  well  as  vocal.  He  was  a  good 
singer  himself,  and  wherever  he  went  encouraged 
the  young  people  especially  to  learn  to  sing,  never 
forgetting  the  apostolic  injunction,  "with  the 
spirit  and  with  the  understanding  also." 

His  wonderful  ability  as  a  preacher  can  hardly 
be  estimated  at  this  distance  in  time.  His  appear- 
ance as  described  by  a  contemporary  is  interest- 
ing: "Valentine  Cook  was  slightly  above  the 
medium  height  and  size.  There  was  no  symmetry 
in  his  figure;  his  limbs,  being  disproportionately 
long,  seemed  more  like  awkward  appendages  than 
well-fitted  parts  of  a  perfect  whole.  He  was  what 
is  called  'stoop-shouldered'  to  such  a  degree  that 
his  long  neck  projected  from  between  his  shoul- 
ders almost  at  a  right  angle  with  the  perpen- 
dicular of  his  chest.  His  head,  which  was  of  a 
peculiar  formation,  being  much  longer  than  usual 
from  the  crown  to  the  point  of  the  chin,  seemed 
rather  suspended  to  than  supported  by  the  neck. 
A  remarkably  low  forehead,  small,  deeply  sunken, 
hazel  eyes,  a  prominent  Roman  nose,  large 
mouth,  thin  lips,  a  dark,  sallow  complexion, 
coarse  black  hair,  with  here  and  there  a  thread  of 
gray,  formed  a  'tout  ensemble'  in  which  nature 
seemed  to  have  paid  no  regard  to  order,  strength, 
or  beauty.  His  singularly  eccentric  appearance, 
his  homely  apparel,  and  humble  attitude,  as  he 
slowly  approached  the  house,  are  imprinted  upon 


94  METHODIST  HEROES 


my  mind  as  vividly  now  as  when  for  the  first 
time  I  looked  upon  him  as  I  sat  in  my  little 
portico." 

His  prayer  life  was  preeminent.  He  prayed  in 
secret  three  times  a  day  and  always  for  some  time 
before  preaching,  giving  much  time  to  it. 

He  was  so  much  thought  of  that,  after  his  death, 
a  memorial  sermon  was  preached  at  the  next 
session  of  the  Kentucky  Annual  Conference,  some- 
thing rarely  done. 

Like  all  other  early  Methodists,  he  was  a  con- 
troversialist. His  argument  on  baptism  is  all 
that  remains  of  his  work.  This  shows  the  marks 
of  scholarship. 


XXIII 


HOPE  HULL,  EDUCATOR 

In  Worcester  County,  Maryland,  March  13, 
1763,  Hope  Hull  was  born.  In  those  days  it  was 
the  custom  to  give  children  names  that  meant 
something.  In  one  home  a  child  was  called 
"Praise  God"  because  the  parents  considered  him 
a  gift  from  God.  "Patience"  was  a  common  name 
for  girls.  So  probably  the  parents  of  Hope  Hull 
gave  him  the  name  to  signify  some  vital  relation 
to  their  life.  The  name  "Hope"  was  a  name  given 
to  girls  as  well  as  boys. 

It  is  supposed  that  he  was  converted  in  Balti- 
more. He  joined  the  Conference  in  1785,  and  was 
appointed  to  Salisbury,  North  Carolina,  and  sub- 
sequently to  circuits  in  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia.  In  Georgia  he  formed  the  first  Meth- 
odist societies  ever  formed  in  the  State.  Beverly 
Allen,  founder  of  the  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  had  preached  there  three  years  be- 
fore, but,  it  is  thought,  formed  no  societies.  In 
1791  he  was  traveling  companion  of  Bishop  As- 
bury.  He  was  a  strong  opponent  of  slavery,  and 
was  often  in  danger  from  mobs. 

In  1794  he  located,  and  within  two  years  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  John  Wingfield,  one  of  the 
95 


96 


METHODIST  HEROES 


most  respectable  families  in  Georgia.  In  1802 
he  removed  to  Athens,  Georgia.  He  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  trustees  of  the  new  State  Uni- 
versity located  there.  His  own  advantages  had 
been  poor,  but  he  was  something  of  a  Latin 
scholar  and  a  good  English  scholar.  So  he  taught 
and  preached  after  locating. 

He  was  desirous  that  his  children  should  have 
the  advantages  of  which  he  had  been  deprived. 
He  remained  a  trustee  of  the  university  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  The  income  of  the  institution  was 
derived  largely  from  the  rent  of  lands.  The  work 
of  renting  and  collecting  the  rents  was  largely  in 
his  hands.  At  one  time  he  was  acting  president. 
Wherever  he  was  placed  he  did  his  best.  It  is 
said  of  him  that  "his  whole  life  was  emphatically 
spent  in  doing  good." 

One  of  his  most  intimate  friends  was  that  great 
old  Southern  war-horse,  Lovick  Pierce.  He 
credited  Mr.  Hull  with  being  one  of  the  great 
preachers  of  the  time.  He  said  that  "in  some  of 
his  finest  moods  of  thought,  he  seemed  to  look  his 
words  into  you.  He  was  one  of  nature's  orators, 
who  never  spoiled  his  speaking  by  scholastic  re- 
straints. He  wisely  cultivated  his  mind  and 
taste,  that  he  might  rightly  conceive  and  speak; 
but  he  left  all  external  oratory  to  find  its  inspira- 
tion in  its  subject,  and  to  warm  itself  into  life 
in  the  glow  of  his  mind.    Hence,  in  many  of  his 


HOPE  HULL 


97 


masterly  efforts,  his  words  rushed  upon  his  au- 
dience like  au  avalanche,  and  multitudes  seemed 
to  be  carried  before  him  like  the  yielding  captives 
of  a  stormed  castle." 

He  was  a  man  of  great  power  in  prayer,  of 
great  discernment,  and  sound  common  sense.  By 
some  it  was  thought  that  he  was  a  prophet,  for 
sometimes  his  preaching  was  so  direct  that  he 
seemed  to  be  revealing  secrets  to  the  assembled 
people,  and  many  a  conscience-stricken  one  yielded 
to  the  demands  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Dr.  Pierce 
tells  the  story  that  on  a  certain  occasion,  after 
preaching,  he  was  leading  a  class.  "Having  gone 
through  the  names  on  the  class  paper,  he  ap- 
proached an  elderly  man  sitting  afar  off  and  in- 
quired after  his  soul's  welfare.  The  old  gentle- 
man, after  taking  a  sufficient  time  to  digest  his 
answer,  squared  himself  around  and  said :  'I 
am  like  old  Paul :  when  I  would  do  good,  evil  is 
present  with  me.'  To  which  Mr.  Hull  replied :  'I 
am  afraid  that  you  are  like  old  Noah,  too — get 
drunk  sometimes.'  It  was  a  center  shot,  for  the 
poor  old  man  was  a  drunkard. 

"Many  such  cutting  remarks,  made  in  utter 
ignorance  of  the  persons  to  whom  they  were  ad- 
dressed, went  to  prove  that  he  possessed  a  power 
of  discerning  spirits  above  most  other  men." 

Undoubtedly  this  gift  was  often  exercised  by 
other  early  Methodist  preachers. 


XXIV 


JOHN  GADDIS,  THE  HEROIC  CONVERT 

At  this  distance  in  time,  and  with  the  change 
of  relations  between  the  denominations,  it  is  hard 
to  realize  how  great  was  the  persecution  of  many 
of  the  early  Methodists  who  came  out  from  other 
denominations. 

I  have  just  been  reading  the  fascinating  auto- 
biography of  Maxwell  P.  Gaddis,  entitled  The 
Footprints  of  an  Itinerant.  In  that  he  tells  of 
the  struggle  which  his  mother  and  brother  had. 
The  family  belonged  to  the  Scotch  seceders.  Out 
of  curiosity  they  all  attended  a  Methodist  camp 
meeting.  John,  one  of  the  sons,  was  converted. 
The  father  found  it  out,  and  in  a  great  rage 
"started  his  son  homeward  at  the  point  of  his 
cane."  On  the  way,  however,  he  calmed  down  and 
concluded  to  say  or  do  nothing  hastily. 

When  the  good  mother  was  told  she  wept  bit- 
terly and  told  John  that  she  would  have  preferred 
to  have  him  laid  in  his  grave  than  to  have  him 
thus  bring  lasting  disgrace  to  the  family.  She 
spent  a  large  part  of  the  evening  in  abusing  the 
Methodists  and  making  sport  of  the  idea  of  con- 
version. He  calmly  reiterated,  whenever  oppor- 
98 


JOHN  GADDIS 


99 


tunity  offered,  the  fact  "that  God  had  awakened 
and  converted  his  soul." 

Monday  morning  his  mother  forbade  his  attend- 
ing Methodist  meetings  or  having  anything  to  do 
with  the  Methodist  young  people.  It  was  a 
severe  testing  time  and  drove  him  to  God.  In- 
stead of  giving  up  his  experience,  his  faith  became 
stronger,  for  he  prayed  much. 

A  prayer  meeting  was  appointed  at  the  house 
of  a  near  neighbor.  John  went  to  his  father  and 
asked  permission  to  attend.  He  finally  consented, 
on  condition  that  the  mother  would  consent  also. 
His  mother  refused  his  request  and  declared  that 
she  would  compel  him  to  obey.  He  retired  to  the 
barn  to  pray.  He  prayed  until  evening.  His 
mother  searched  the  house  for  him,  and  not  find- 
ing him,  concluded  that  he  had  gone  to  the  for- 
bidden meeting.  She  started  out  in  great  rage, 
with  the  intention  of  compelling  him  to  go  home 
with  her.  Her  path  led  past  the  barn,  where  her 
boy  was  in  prayer.  When  she  first  heard  him 
praying,  she  did  not  recognize  the  voice  of  her 
son.  As  she  listened  she  recognized  his  voice, 
and  was  powerfully  convicted  of  her  sin.  She 
returned  to  the  house,  and  soon  retired  for  the 
night.  John  also  returned  to  the  house,  and  went 
to  bed  in  utter  ignorance  of  what  had  transpired. 

The  mother  could  not  sleep,  so  deep  was  her  con- 
viction.  Her  alarm  increased  so  greatly  that  her 


100  METHODIST  HEROES 


husband  was  frightened,  and  proposed  that  John 
should  get  a  physician.  As  soon  as  John  saw  his 
mother  he  realized  the  trouble  and  prayed  for  her, 
and  she  was  soundly  converted,  and  the  remain- 
der of  the  night  was  spent  in  prayer  and  praise. 
The  father  thought  both  were  partially  demented. 

The  son  was  no  more  persecuted  in  the  home. 
The  mother,  on  the  following  Sunday,  attended 
worship  in  her  own  church.  The  sermon  appealed 
to  her  newly  awakened  soul  and  she  shouted 
aloud,  to  the  great  confusion  of  pastor  and  peo- 
ple, and  to  the  annoyance  of  her  husband.  This 
happened  the  second,  and  again  the  third  Sunday. 
She  was  brought  to  trial  before  the  session  to 
answer  to  the  specification  of  disorderly  conduct 
in  the  house  of  God,  for  "shouting  three  successive 
Sabbaths."  The  case  was  dismissed,  with  an  ad- 
monition to  the  husband  to  use  all  his  influence 
to  have  her  stop  shouting  in  church.  Soon  after 
she  attended  a  meeting  of  the  Methodists,  and  felt 
at  home  among  the  despised  people.  She  applied 
for  a  church  letter,  and  soon  joined  the  Meth- 
odists. The  entire  family  in  time  also  became 
Methodists.  John  and  Maxwell  P.  and  another 
brother  became  itinerants  and  labored  for  many 
years  in  the  State  of  Ohio.  If  John  had  been 
untrue  to  his  faith,  the  story  would  never  have 
been  told,  and  the  endless  results  lost  to  the 
world  forever. 


XXV 


WILLIAM  B.  CHRISTIE 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  write  of  this  saintly 
young  man  for  Ohio  Methodists.  He  died  six 
months  before  he  was  forty.  He  was  born  in 
Wilmington  County,  Ohio,  in  1803,  and  died  in 
1842.  In  reading  the  Methodist  biography  of  the 
second  generation  of  Methodists,  his  name  often 
figures  on  the  pages — and  always  figures  large. 
Young  as  he  was,  he  had  served  as  presiding  elder 
of  three  different  districts.  He  occupied  too 
some  of  the  best  appointments  of  the  time  in  the 
Conference.  He  was  a  student  at  Augusta  Col- 
lege, where  graduated  Bishop  Foster  and  his 
brother-in-law,  the  great  theologian,  John  Miley. 

Judge  McLean  declared  him  to  be  "an  extraor- 
dinary preacher."  Bishop  Morris  stated  that 
he  excelled  in  three  qualities* — "beauty  of  lan- 
guage, force  of  argument,  and  pungency  of  appli- 
cation." 

Maxwell  P.  Gaddis  gives  an  interesting  account 
of  a  wonderful  prayer  made  by  Mr.  Christie  at  a 
camp  meeting,  when  a  great  thunderstorm  was 
approaching.   He  ascended  the  stand  to  close  the 
101 


102  METHODIST  HEROES 


service.  His  voice  at  first  was  low,  but  sweet  and 
melodious;  but  as  he  proceeded  to  line  out 
Cowper's  beautiful  and  well-known  hymn,  com- 
mencing, 

"God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way, 

His  wonders  to  perform; 
He  plants  his  footsteps  in  the  sea, 
And  rides  upon  the  storm," 

all  eyes  in  the  congregation  were  riveted  upon  the 
stranger.  With  the  reading  and  singing  of  each 
verse  of  that  appropriate  hymn,  the  devotional 
feeling  increased  in  the  audience  till  the  tear  of 
joy  sparkled  in  many  an  eye;  while  the  hearty 
"Amen"  gave  additional  interest  to  the  scene.  At 
the  close  of  the  hymn  the  assembly  knelt  in  prayer 
while  the  voice  of  the  stranger  was  lifted  to  the 
throne  of  grace.  At  first  the  faint  whispers  of 
his  voice  were  scarcely  audible,  owing  to  prepara- 
tions in  the  rear  of  the  stand  for  a  rainy  day. 
But  as  the  preacher  breathed  out  the  desires  of 
a  burdened  heart  in  a  soft  and  subdued  tone  of 
voice,  a  solemn  and  awful  stillness  fell  on  the 
entire  encampment.  He  had  not  continued  long 
in  prayer,  till  all  within  the  area  of  tents,  and 
in  the  rear,  and  on  all  sides  of  the  ground  fell 
upon  their  knees,  or  assumed  a  devotional  posture. 
It  was  but  a  short  time  till  the  crack  of  the 
wagoner's  whip  and  the  sound  of  the  ax  in  the 


WILLIAM  B.  CHRISTIE 


103 


surrounding  grove  had  died  away.  At  last  not 
a  voice  or  a  sound  of  a  solitary  footfall  on  the 
withered  leaves  disturbed  the  stillness  of  our  de- 
votions. The  whole  scene  conspired  to  remind 
one  of  the  address  to  the  Hebrew  prophet,  "Put 
off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  where- 
on thou  standest  is  holy  ground."  It  was  soon 
apparent,  even  to  the  careless,  that  no  ordinary 
personage  was  leading  the  devotion  of  the  people 
of  God  at  that  hour.  Brother  Christie,  after 
praying  for  the  sanctification  of  the  people  of 
God,  the  conversion  of  sinners,  and  the  success  of 
the  meeting  in  general,  began  to  plead  most  elo- 
quently with  the  Almighty  God,  if  consistent  with 
his  will  in  the  government  of  the  world,  to  "stop 
up  the  bottles  of  heaven"  and  give  us  "fair 
weather,"  in  which  to  continue  our  worship  in 
the  tented  grove.  Never  shall  I  forget  the  sub- 
lime portions  of  the  Word  of  God  which  were 
quoted  in  his  prayer  with  great  power  and  singu- 
lar appropriateness.  I  will  name  a  few ;  such  as, 
"Behold,  God  is  great.  .  .  .  For  he  maketh  small 
the  drops  of  water :  they  pour  down  rain  accord- 
ing to  the  vapor  thereof :  which  the  clouds  do 
drop  and  distill  upon  man  abundantly.  .  .  .  For 
he  saith  to  the  snow,  Be  thou  on  the  earth ;  like- 
wise to  the  small  rain,  and  to  the  great  rain  of 
his  strength.  .  .  .  Also  by  watering  he  wearieth 
the  thick  cloud:  he  scattereth  his  bright  cloud: 


104  METHODIST  HEROES 


and  it  is  turned  round  about  .  .  . :  that  they  may 
do  whatsoever  he  commandeth  them  upon  the 
face  of  the  world  in  the  earth."  He  also  ad- 
dressed the  Almighty  as  the  God  of  providence — 
as  able  to  send  or  withhold  rain  at  his  pleasure — 
as  causing  it  to  come  for  "correction  for  his  land 
or  for  mercy"  and  as  "causing  it  to  rain  on  one 
city  and  not  on  another";  and  as  working  every- 
thing after  the  counsels  of  his  own  will,  and 
"that  snow  and  vapor,  stormy  wind,  rain  and 
hail"  all  fulfilled  his  word,  and  then  quoted,  with 
pathos  and  resistless  power,  the  entire  history  of 
Elijah  on  Mount  Carmel,  and  closed  by  quoting 
a  verse  from  the  hymn  sung  at  the  close  of  the 
sermon : 

"Judge  not  the  Lord  by  feeble  sense, 
But  trust  him  for  his  grace; 
Behind  a  frowning  providence 
He  hides  a  smiling  face." 

Never  till  that  day  had  I  known  so  fully  the 
power  and  efficacy  of  prayer;  and  never  before 
did  I  witness  such  a  striking  and  remarkable  an- 
swer to  prayer.  The  minister  on  that  occasion 
seemed  to  converse  with  God  "face  to  face,"  as  a 
man  with  his  friend.  As  the  petitioner  approached 
nearer  and  nearer  still  the  "mercy  seat,"  sprinkled 
with  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  his  faith  waxed 
stronger  and  stronger  until  "he  prevailed  with 


WILLIAM  B.  CHRISTIE 


105 


God";  and  the  bumble,  fervent  prayer  of  the  sup- 
pliant was  almost  instantly  answered.  Hun- 
dreds of  "living  witnesses"  at  this  day  would 
unite  their  testimony  to  mine  in  confirmation  of 
this  wonderful  interposition  of  God  in  answer 
to  the  prayer  of  his  faithful  servant. 

From  his  deathbed  Mr.  Christie  sent  word  to 
the  members  of  the  Ohio  Conference:  "If  they 
think  my  name  worthy  of  being  mentioned,  I 
have  not  preached  an  unknown  and  unfelt 
Saviour.  Tell  them,  that  though  unworthy  and 
unfaithful,  that  gospel  which  I  have  preached 
sustains  me  now.  Tell  the  ministers  to  preach 
Christ  and  him  crucified.  Tell  them  my  only 
hope,  my  only  foundation,  is  in  the  blood  of 
sprinkling.  Precious  blood!  O  the  fullness,  the 
richness,  the  sweetness  of  that  fountain !" 

Undoubtedly  he  was  brought  to  his  early  death 
by  the  privations  and  exposure  which  he  endured. 
His  funeral  was  held  in  Wesley  chapel  and  the 
edifice  was  more  than  filled.  Many  distinguished 
people  were  present  to  pay  their  last  tribute  to 
the  great  soul-winner  that  he  was. 


XXVI 


GLEZEN  FILLMORE,  THE  FIRST  METH- 
ODIST PASTOR  OF  BUFFALO,  NEW  YORK 

It  is  not  often  that  we  have  been  able  to  see  a 
likeness  of  the  subject  presented  in  one  of  these 
articles,  but  in  this  case  we  find  a  splendid  steel 
engraving  published  in  an  early  number  of  the 
Methodist  Magazine  and  reproduced  in  Con- 
able's  History,  referred  to  in  another  article  of 
this  series.  Mr.  Fillmore  is  presented  as  a  large, 
genial  appearing  man,  of  evident  power  and  good- 
ness. Winning  by  his  smile  and  undoubtedly 
capable  not  only  of  intense  enjoyment  himself, 
but  able  to  produce  the  same  feeling  in  others. 

He  was  born  in  Bennington,  Vermont,  in  1789, 
and  died  in  Clarence,  New  York,  in  1875.  His 
wife  survived  him  and  lived  to  pass  the  age  of  one 
hundred  and  six.  Mr.  Fillmore  spent  nine  years 
as  a  local  preacher.  His  father  objected  to  his 
preaching  as  a  member  of  the  Conference,  but 
after  hearing  the  son  preach  a  two-hour-long 
camp-meeting  sermon  withdrew  his  objection, 
and  the  young  preacher  became  a  regular  member 
of  the  Conference. 

106 


GLEZEN  FILLMORE 


107 


In  1821  he  was  appointed  presiding1  elder  of  the 
Erie  District,  which  at  that  time  extended  from 
Lake  Ontario  to  Meadville,  Pennsylvania.  He 
had  been  a  member  of  Conference  for  only  three 
years  when  appointed,  a  fact  which  caused  some 
criticism  of  the  authorities  for  appointing  so 
young  a  man.  The  late  Dr.  Sanford  Hunt  told 
the  story  that  on  his  way  home  from  the  Confer- 
ence he  attended  a  camp  meeting.  Many  min- 
isters were  present.  When  he  came  to  preach,  it 
was  with  a  great  feeling  of  responsibility.  He 
said,  "I  soared,  and  soared  so  high  that  I  burned 
my  wings  and  came  down  flat,  and  I  have  never 
attempted  to  fly  since." 

The  Rev.  F.  W.  Couable  knew  Mr.  Fillmore, 
working  under  his  care  in  the  years  1850-54.  He 
states  that  he  was  a  very  strong  preacher,  but 
never  used  notes  in  his  preaching.  ''Elder  Fill- 
more generally  selected  plain  texts,  but  sometimes 
his  congregation  would  be  agreeably  surprised 
with  a  selection  calculated  to  awaken  the  spirit 
of  curiosity,  leading  his  hearers  in  their  own 
minds  to  ask,  'Well,  what  will  you  do  with  that?' 
At  a  quarterly  meeting  on  the  West  Carlton 
charge,  on  Saturday,  he  took  for  his  text  the 
fourteenth  verse  of  the  second  chapter  of  Solo- 
mon's Song,  'O  my  dove,  that  art  in  the  clefts  of 
the  rock,  in  the  secret  places  of  the  stairs,  let  me 
see  thy  countenance,  let  me  hear  thy  voice;  for 


108  METHODIST  HEROES 


sweet  is  thy  voice,  and  thy  countenance  is  comely.' 
Making  the  dove  represent  the  faithful  Christian, 
he  remarked  that  one  characteristic  was  watch- 
fulness— suggestive  of  the  habit  of  watchfulness 
becoming  the  Christian — and  as  a  dove  one  might 
see  on  the  ground  in  the  road  before  him  as  he 
was  riding  along,  said  he,  'Careless  thing!  you 
thought  you  were  going  to  run  over  it,  but  you 
didn't' 

"This  servant  of  God  was  accustomed  to  preach 
to  the  children  and  young  people,  and  being  a 
quick,  shrewd,  though  quiet  observer  of  the  ways 
and  habits  of  persons  and  families  and  of  passing 
events,  he  was  prepared  to  address  to  the  young, 
as  well  as  to  those  of  mature  years,  many  a  useful 
lesson  and  vauable  hint  relating  to  matters  of 
personal  conduct  and  the  affairs  of  everyday  life. 
In  a  sermon  to  the  young  at  West  Carlton  he 
called  attention  to  the  importance  of  cultivating 
the  habit  of  maintaining  order  and  tidiness  at 
home,  in  the  house  and  on  the  premises  round 
about,  and  he  made  plain  the  bearing  of  such 
a  habit  in  the  formation  of  character  and  in  se- 
curing success  in  life.  In  doing  this  he  referred 
to  some  things  which  had  a  bad  look— the  drawers 
half  shut,  with  the  corners  of  articles  hanging 
out,  as  if  they  would  say,  'We  are  all  in  a  tumble 
here!'  in  driving  the  cows  to  pasture  leaving  the 
bars  down  and  mischief  resulting.   Two  boys  who 


GLEZEN  FILLMORE  109 


heard  the  sermon  had  that  morning  left  the  bars 
down,  and  they  began  to  be  afraid,  and  wondered 
who  had  told  the  minister  of  them." 

In  many  respects  Father  Fillmore  was  a  model 
man.  He  was  a  pleasant  visitor,  a  good  eater,  and 
a  good  sleeper.  "At  Akron,  on  a  time,  the 
preacher  stationed  there  was  working  over  a  diffi- 
culty in  the  church,  and  his  sleep  departed  from 
him.  The  elder,  being  there  probably  at  his  quar- 
terly meeting,  the  preacher  said,  'Father  Fill- 
more, what  would  I  give  if  I  could  go  to  bed  and 
sleep  as  soundly  as  you  do?'  'Why,'  answered 
he,  'that  is  what  I  go  to  bed  for.' 

"The  subject  of  these  reminiscences  took  the 
rough  things  of  life  very  much  like  a  philosopher, 
or  rather  like  a  Christian.  At  one  time  a  lady 
inquired  of  him  to  know  whether  he»  was  design- 
ing to  publish  a  history  of  his  life,  giving  an 
account  of  his  'trials,'  etc.  'Trials !'  said  he  with 
evident  emotion,  'I  never  had  any.'  " 

Four  times  he  served  Buffalo  as  its  pastor,  and 
including  his  years  as  presiding  elder,  had  to  do 
with  its  spiritual  affairs  for  twenty-one  years. 


XXVII 


JAMES  MOORE,  OF  NEW  JERSEY 

This  good  man  is  not  as  widely  known  as  he 
deserves.  We  are  mostly  indebted  for  our  knowl- 
edge of  him  to  a  sketch  written  by  the  late  presi- 
dent of  the  Ocean  Grove  Camp  Meeting  Associa- 
tion, the  Rev.  E.  H.  Stokes.  How  much  Meth- 
odism owes  to  Ireland!  From  Ireland  came 
Embury  aud  his  party.  From  Ireland  came 
Bishop  Asbury.  From  Ireland  too  came  James 
Moore.  He  was  born  in  the  County  of  Tyrone  in 
1760.  When  twenty-six  he  joined  the  Methodist 
Society.  Six  years  later  he  came  to  America. 
The  young  Irishman  had  only  been  here  two  years 
when  he  joined  the  Philadelphia  Conference.  That 
same  year  William  Beauchamp  and  Nicholas 
Snethen,  two  of  the  great  leaders  of  the  church, 
joined  the  traveling  connection.  His  ministry 
was  spent  in  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  New 
Jersey.  He  it  was  who  led  in  the  erection  of  the 
first  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Newark,  New 
Jersey.  Here,  in  1808,  the  Halsey  Street  Meth- 
odist Church  was  built.  The  motber  church  of 
this  part  of  New  Jersey  is  the  Belleville  Church. 
110 


JAMES  MOORE 


111 


Here  were  held  some  great  quarterly  meetings. 
The  Rev.  John  Dow  was  a  famous  local  preacher 
of  this  place.  On  one  of  these  occasions  the  wants 
of  one  hundred  and  eighteen  persons  were  sup- 
plied by  this  good  man. 

James  Moore  was  not  a  man  of  learning,  but, 
rather,  of  power,  and  that  largely  due  to  his  sim- 
plicity. It  is  said  that  his  sermons  were  more 
like  conversations  than  formal  discourses.  "Chris- 
tian Experience"  was  his  great  theme,  and  so 
confident  was  he  of  the  truthfulness  of  his  state- 
ments that  he  would  often  exclaim  in  the  middle 
of  his  discourses  with  a  great  deal  of  Christian 
and  Irish  fervency,  "It's  as  true  as  ould  Jeems 
Moore  stands  here  on  this  day,"  and  then  appeal- 
ing to  anyone  in  the  audience  whose  eye  chanced 
to  meet  his,  would  continue:  "Ain't  it  so,  Brother 
A.?"  and  then  Brother  A.,  and  perhaps  a  score  of 
others,  would  respond  with  an  emphatic  "Yes,"  a 
volley  of  hearty  "Aniens,"  or  floods  of  tears.  He 
was  a  great  singer,  too,  and  would  almost  in- 
variably come  down  the  pulpit  steps,  after  a 
sermon,  singing  his  favorite  air: 

"Is  there  anybody  here  like  a  weeping  Mary? 
Call  on  my  Saviour,  and  he'll  draw  nigh." 

Advancing  in  his  song,  he  would  insert  in  the 
place  of  "weeping  Mary,"  "a  doubting  Thomas," 
or  a  "sinking  Peter."    Then,  after  having  gained 


112 


METHODIST  HEROES 


the  sympathy  of  his  audience,  with  tears  stream- 
ing from  his  own  eyes,  his  whole  soul  would  break 
forth : 

"Is  there  anybody  here  who  wants  their  souls  converted? 
Call  on  my  Saviour,  and  he'll  draw  nigh, 
O  glory,  glory,  glory  be  to  God  on  high." 

It  was  a  rare  thiug  when  some  did  not  respond 
to  these  calls;  and  thousands  newly  born  to  God 
have  united  with  him  in  singing: 

"O  glory,  glory,  glory  be  to  God  on  high." 

The  following  story  is  told  by  the  late  Rev. 
Anthony  Atwood,  of  the  Philadelphia  Conference, 
and  quoted  by  Dr.  Stokes  in  his  article.  The  in- 
cident occurred  at  the  session  of  the  New  Jersey 
Conference  at  Trenton,  April,  1839,  about  two 
years  before  the  death  of  Mr.  Moore: 

"Bishop  Hedding  was  in  the  chair,  and  we  were 
receiving  the  young  man  who  was  said  to  have  a 
good  mind,  and  some  preaching  talents,  but  was 
reported  as  slow,  and  very  sluggish  in  his  manner, 
and  very  much  lacking  in  fire  and  zeal.  This  I 
consider  a  sad  defect  in  a  man  so  young,  and  re- 
marked :  'If  he  was  so  deficient  in  natural  fire 
now  in  youth,  he  would  in  a  few  years  be  un- 
bearable, as  it  was  common  for  men  to  lose  much 
of  their  zeal  when  age  had  dried  up  their  youth- 
ful activities.'   Bishop  Hedding  turned  to  Father 


JAMES  MOORE 


113 


Moore,  who  sat  in  the  corner  at  his  left,  and  said : 
'Brother  Moore,  how  do  you  like  the  doctrine  of 
Brother  Atwood  ?  Do  you  think  a  minister  is  apt 
to  lose  his  fire  as  he  grows  old?  I  want  to  hear 
your  opinion?'  I  saw  I  was  totally  annihilated. 
The  church  was  full  in  every  part  listening  to 
what  was  said,  and,  as  the  man  who  fell  under 
the  wheel  and  said  that  to  be  run  over  was  in- 
evitable, made  himself  as  hard  as  possible,  I  pre- 
pared myself  for  the  storm  that  I  knew  was  com- 
ing. Brother  Moore  rose  up  slowly,  and  began 
to  speak  of  his  interest  in  the  work  of  God  for- 
merly and  now.  As  he  proceeded  he  arose  to  a 
state  of  feeling  the  most  sublime  and  inspiring 
that  I  ever  witnessed.  He  shook  with  deep  emo- 
tion. He  usually  had  a  rapid  utterance,  but  now 
faster  than  ever,  until  the  whole  house  was  per- 
fectly convulsed  with  intense  excitement.  As 
usual,  the  shout  began  among  the  preachers,  then 
the  galleries  caught  the  spirit  and  followed,  until 
the  noise  of  shout  and  praise  went  up  like  the 
sound  of  many  waters.  For  a  length  of  time  no 
business  could  be  done.  The  good  bishop  shook, 
wept,  and  praised  God  with  all  the  others.  It 
was  a  wonderful  scene,  worth  traveling  many 
miles  to  witness  and  enjoy — a  feeling  that  no  man 
could  wake  up  but  James  Moore,  and  he  could 
and  did  do  it  often.  The  bishop  was  aware  of 
this,  and  seeing  a  good  opportunity  to  wake  up 


114 


METHODIST  HEROES 


an  unusual  shout,  could  not  afford  to  let  it  pass 
unimproved.  I,  of  course,  could  only  say  I 
thought  that  my  position  was  a  sound  one  in 
general,  but  Bishop  Hedding  and  James  Moore 
were  exceptions  to  the  rule,  and  business  resumed 
its  usual  course." 

James  Moore  was  a  man  of  prayer,  and  many 
amazing  stories  are  told  of  the  results  of  his  faith. 
He  loved  the  work,  and  literally  won  thousands 
to  the  Master.  He  might  have  been  called  one 
of  the  modern  apostles. 


XXVIII 


JOHN  KOBLER,  THE  YOUNG  PRESIDING 
ELDER 

To  be  a  presiding  elder  at  twenty-five  years  of 
age  would  in  our  day  be  an  impossibility.  Most 
men  wbo  enter  the  ministry  now  are  at  least  of 
that  age.  But  such  was  the  experience  of  John 
Kobler. 

Our  hero  was  born  in  Culpepper  County,  Vir- 
ginia, August  29,  1768.  When  nineteen  he  was 
converted,  and  when  twenty-one  joined  the  Con- 
ference and  began  to  preach.  The  first  district, 
which  he  served  four  years,  was  in  Virginia.  On 
the  conclusion  of  his  term  he  was  immediately 
appointed  elder  in  Kentucky  to  succeed  Francis 
Poythress.  In  the  bounds  of  this  district  was  the 
famous  Limestone  Circuit,  to  which  we  have  pre- 
viously referred.  Here  he  remained  about  a  year, 
when  he  was  sent  over  the  Ohio  River  into  the 
Mad  River  Country.  In  this  section  he  was  to 
form  a  circuit. 

This  is  declared  to  be  the  first  circuit  in  the 
State  of  Ohio.  True,  there  had  been  an  Ohio 
Circuit  in  the  Minutes  for  some  time,  but  this  did 
not  include  any  part  of  the  present  State  of  Ohio. 
115 


116  METHODIST  HEROES 


It  included  only  the  towns  on  the  Ohio  River  in 
western  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  He  formed 
the  Miami  Circuit,  and  reported  to  the  Conference 
of  1799  ninety-eight  white  members  and  one 
colored  member.  The  next  year  he  spent  in  Ken- 
tucky and  the  year  following  in  Virginia.  This 
completed  his  active  ministry  of  twelve  years. 
He  was  worn  out  at  the  age  of  thirty-three. 
Thirty-five  years  after  he  was  placed  upon  the 
roll  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  within  the 
bounds  of  which  he  lived.  This  was  entirely 
without  his  solicitation. 

One  item  of  his  life  is  especially  worthy  of  men- 
tion. When  he  was  seventy-four  they  were  build- 
ing a  new  church  at  Fredericksburg,  where  he 
lived.  He  was  much  interested  in  the  project  and 
visited  his  Western  friends,  soliciting  their  aid, 
and  as  a  result  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the 
church  toward  the  new  enterprise  over  one  thou- 
sand dollars  which  he  had  collected.  Bishop  As- 
bury  and  he  were  good  friends.  I  have  seen  three 
letters  written  to  John  Kobler  by  the  bishop. 
Undoubtedly  he  was  high  in  the  good  graces  of 
the  bishop.  In  one  of  the  letters  the  bishop  ex- 
plains that  he  is  unable  to  meet  the  Conference 
as  appointed,  and  adds:  "I  have  herein  inclosed 
a  plan  of  stationing  the  preachers  which  I  should 
be  glad  should  take  place;  but  you  must  do  as 
well  as  you  can  in  cases  of  failure  or  contin- 


JOHN  KOBLER 


117 


gencies,  and  I  desire  you,  if  Brother  McHenry 
should  not  be  present,  to  take  the  presidency  of 
the  Conference,  and  go  through  in  regular  order, 
taking  their  names,  members,  numbers,  and  elec- 
tions, if  any  of  them  should  have  the  right  of  elec- 
tion, which  is  two  years'  probation."  Mr.  Kobler 
was  then  only  twenty-six  years  old. 

Fortunately  for  us,  Maxwell  P.  Gaddis  has  pre- 
served in  his  Footprints  of  an  Itinerant  a  portion 
of  the  journal  of  this  good  man  Kobler.  He  was 
the  first  Methodist  to  preach  in  Dayton.  In  this 
we  find  an  account  of  some  of  his  hardships.  "In 
this  neighborhood  there  are  six  or  eight  Meth- 
odists settled,  and  among  them  is  a  local  preacher 
by  the  name  of  Hamer.  I  think  he  came  down 
from  the  Redstone  country ;  is  from  forty  to  forty- 
five  years  of  age.  Last  year  he  raised  a  class  of 
the  few  scattered  Methodists  here,  and  for  a  while 
met  them  as  leader.  I  visited  each  of  them 
severally,  as  far  as  possible,  examined  into  the 
state  of  their  souls,  and  found  some  of  them  filled 
with  prejudice.  I  held  a  second  public  meeting 
among  them  and  read  the  rules  of  the  Society ; 
laid  before  them  the  great  necessity  of  Christian 
union  in  church  membership,  and  invited  all  those 
who  could  fellowship  each  other  to  come  forward 
and  join  in  class.  So  we  organized  a  class  of 
eight  members,  of  whom  Brother  Hamer  was  ap- 
pointed leader." 


118 


METHODIST  HEROES 


This  is  his  record  of  his  preaching  in  Dayton : 
"Lord's  Day,  August  12,  1798.  Preached  in 
Dayton,  a  little  village  by  that  name  on  the  bank 
of  the  Big  Miami  River,  and  just  below  its  junc- 
tion with  Mad  River.  Here  are  a  few  log  houses 
and  eight  or  ten  families  residing.  Here  I  saw 
some  tokens  for  good;  the  people  seemed  to  re- 
ceive the  word  preached  with  all  readiness  of 
mind;  indeed,  several  in  the  company  were 
affected." 


XXIX 


JOSEPH  LILLAED,  COLLEAGUE  OF 
SAMUEL  TUCKER 

The  famous  Limestone  Circuit  of  Kentucky, 
now  called  Maysville,  has  a  great  fascination 
for  us.  In  our  researches  we  return  to  it  again 
and  again.  Here  Samuel  Tucker  met  his  death. 
His  colleague  was  Joseph  Lillard. 

Concerning  Mr.  Lillard  little  is  known,  but 
that  little  we  will  give.  He  was  born  near  Har- 
rodsburg,  Kentucky.  We  do  not  know  the  story 
of  his  conversion.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Con- 
ference in  1790,  the  same  year  in  which  Samuel 
Tucker,  his  first  colleague,  joined.  Possibly  they 
were  at  Conference  together.  The  death  of  Samuel 
Tucker  left  him  alone  on  the  circuit.  His  toil 
must  have  been  enormous.  We  find  that  in  his 
year's  work  the  membership  increased  from 
sixt}^-six  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  white 
and  six  colored  members. 

His  second  year  in  the  ministry  was  on  the 
Salt  River  Circuit,  with  Wilson  Lee  as  senior 
preacher.  This  circuit  had  a  much  larger  mem- 
bership, which  was  materially  increased,  over  one 
119 


120  METHODIST  HEROES 


hundred  being  added.  These  two  years  completed 
his  service  in  the  active  ministry.  Why  he  was 
discontinued  we  do  not  know.  He  remained  a 
local  preacher  all  his  life.  He  settled  near  his 
birthplace,  and  from  there  went  to  preach  in  all 
the  surrounding  region. 

Dr.  J.  M.  Peck,  a  Baptist  minister,  tells  an 
incident  of  his  visit  to  Illinois.  During  his  visit 
he  became  temporarily  insane.  He  wandered 
away  from  his  friends  and  started  for  Kaskaskia. 
The  Indians  had  been  on  the  trail  and  had 
scalped  and  murdered  a  man  named  Sipp.  The 
body,  mutilated  as  it  was,  was  left  on  the  trail. 
It  was  enough  to  startle  any  man.  The  sight 
and  horror  of  it  restored  the  mind  of  Mr.  Lillard, 
and  he  returned  to  his  friends.  This  is  said  to 
be  the  first  visit  ever  paid  to  the  State  by  a  Meth- 
odist preacher,  and  he  probably  preached  the  first 
sermon  preached  in  the  State  by  a  Methodist  at  a 
place  called  New  Design.  He  was  the  first  of 
a  long  line  of  good  men  who  have  made  of  Illinois 
a  great  Methodist  stronghold.  His  gifts  as  a 
preacher  were  not  great,  but  he  was  a  good  man. 
He  possessed  some  of  the  eccentric  characteristics 
of  our  early  preachers. 

About  nine  miles  from  Harrodsburg,  Kentucky, 
there  stood,  a  few  years  ago,  a  large  brick  church 
known  as  Joseph's  Chapel;  in  all  probability  it 
is  standing  now.    This  was  built  principally 


JOSEPH  LILLAKD 


121 


through  his  liberality  and  effort,  and  was  named 
after  him. 

The  last  visit  he  made  was  to  Missouri.  On 
his  return,  about  the  year  1853,  he  died.  It  is 
not  known  just  how  or  where.  Some  of  his  re- 
lations and  friends  thought  he  was  murdered. 

His  home  was  always  open  to  his  brother  itin- 
erant. His  reputation  seems  to  have  been  for 
goodness  combined  with  deep  piety  and  liberality. 
He  must  have  been  a  very  young  man  when  he 
began  preaching  as  the  colleague  of  Samuel 
Tucker. 


XXX 


JACOB  GRUBER,  THE  ECCENTRIC 

Jacob  Gruber  was  the  son  of  Pennsylvania 
German  parents,  who  were  godly  though  bigoted. 
He  heard  Methodist  preaching  for  the  first  time 
from  Simon  Miller  and  Isaac  Robinson,  two  itin- 
erants, and  was  interested  but  not  converted.  A 
little  later  Valentine  Cook  came  to  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  under  his  preaching  Jacob  Gruber  was 
converted  and  soon  began  to  preach.  At  first  his 
parents  and  friends  persecuted  him,  and  he  soon 
was  obliged  to  leave  home.  He  began  preaching 
as  a  supply  under  the  elder,  but  joined  the  Con- 
ference in  the  year  1800.  After  six  years'  service 
he  was  made  presiding  elder.  On  his  district  he 
had  some  great  experiences.  We  give  one  of 
them :  "My  travels  among  the  Pendleton  and 
Greenbrier  Mountains  were  hard  and  severe.  One 
very  cold  night  in  the  winter  I  took  a  path  for  a 
near  way  to  my  stopping  place,  but  got  out  of  my 
course,  wandered  about  among  the  hills  and 
mountains,  and  went  to  the  top  of  one  of  them 
to  see  clearings,  or  hear  dogs  bark,  or  roosters 
crow,  but  all  in  vain.  After  midnight  the  moon 
122 


JACOB  GRUBER 


123 


arose.  I  could  then  see  my  track.  The  snow  was 
knee  deep,  and  I  went  back  till  I  got  to  the  right 
course,  and  reached  my  lodgings  between  four 
and  five  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  family  was 
alarmed,  and  said  I  was  late,  but  I  called  it  early. 
After  lying  down  and  sleeping  a  little,  I  arose 
and,  getting  breakfast,  departed  on  my  day's 
journey,  filling  two  appointments." 

He  was  a  hortatory  preacher,  going  directly  to 
his  subject,  often  with  powerful  effects.  "At  a 
certain  camp  meeting,  where,  notwithstanding  all 
the  powerful  exhortations  of  the  preachers,  but 
few  persons  were  found  to  come  to  the  altar  and 
seek  religion,  and  where  there  was  a  general 
apathy  among  professors  of  religion,  he  resorted 
to  the  following  expedient :  taking  his  stand  in 
the  altar  at  the  base  of  the  pulpit,  he  said,  in 
pathetic  tones,  'Come  on,  brethren,  I  want  to  get 
a  little  more  converted  myself.'  Then  falling  at 
the  mourners'  bench,  he  commenced  praying  with 
all  his  might.  The  effect  was  electrical.  The 
people  crowded  in  from  all  quarters,  saints  and 
sinners.  Many  professors  soon  became  much  ex- 
cited, and  loud  shouts  were  heard  on  all  sides." 
Many  were  converted. 

He  was  a  great  despiser  of  the  fashions  in  dress, 
and  would  inveigh  against  thein  on  all  occasions. 
His  biographer  gives  an  amusing  incident  show- 
ing this  peculiarity:  "About  that  time  a  certain 


124  METHODIST  HEROES 


article  of  dress  among  the  ladies  known  as  'petti- 
coat and  habit'  came  into  general  use;  and  as 
fashion  will  sooner  or  later  have  its  way,  it  ob- 
tained among  the  young  ladies  of  the  Methodist 
Church.  Gruber  was  attending  a  camp  meeting 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Franklin,  Pennsylvania. 
At  this  meeting  there  were  several  young  ladies 
dressed  after  this  fashion.  Their  appearance  so 
thoroughly  displeased  him  that,  true  to  his  in- 
stincts, he  determined,  if  possible,  to  administer 
a  public  reproof.  During  a  prayer  meeting  some 
of  these  fashionables  were  grouped  together,  sing- 
ing a  hymn  which  was  very  popular  in  those  days. 
This  hymn,  the  chorus  of  which  was, 

'I  want  to  get  to  heaven, 
My  long-sought  rest,' 

they  sang  with  animation,  and  their  animation 
increased  as  they  saw  the  presiding  elder  ad- 
vance and  join  them.  It  was  discovered  after  a 
while  that  he  changed  the  last  line  of  the  chorus, 
and  instead  of  singing, 

'I  want  to  get  to  heaven, 
My  long-sought  rest,' 

he  sang, 

'I  want  to  get  to  heaven, 
With  my  long,  short  dress.' 


JACOB  GRUBER 


125 


One  after  another,  as  they  detected  the  change  in 
the  chorus,  ceased  singing  until  all  had  stopped, 
leaving  Gruber  alone.  At  this  he  sang  more 
lustily  than  ever,  so  that  all  around  could  hear. 
The  'long,  short  dresses'  began  to  disappear,  and 
the  conscience  of  Gruber  was  not  again  disturbed 
on  that  score  during  the  remainder  of  the  meet- 
ing." 

At  a  certain  camp  meeting  he  was  obliged  to 
preach,  and  on  short  notice.  He  preached  a  ser- 
mon to  slaves  and  slave-holders.  He  was  ar- 
rested and  tried  for  inciting  slaves  to  rebellion, 
and  was  acquitted.  He  was  always  much  thought 
of,  and  soon  after  his  trial  Bishop  Roberts  gave 
him  the  choice  of  a  district  or  a  circuit.  He  pre- 
ferred the  latter. 

The  following  incident  will  give  some  idea  of 
his  wit:  "A  young  preacher,  desirous  of  improv- 
ing his  style  as  a  pulpit  orator,  and  having  great 
confidence  in  Father  Gruber,  who,  we  believe,  at 
the  time  was  his  presiding  elder,  wrote  to  him 
for  advice.  The  young  man  had  contracted  the 
habit  of  prolonging  his  words,  especially  when 
under  the  influence  of  great  excitement.  Deem- 
ing this  the  most  important  defect  in  his  elocu- 
tion, Gruber  sent  him  the  following  laconic  reply : 


"  'Dear-ah  Brother-ah — When-ah  you-ah  go-ah  to-ah 
preach-ah,  take-ah  care-ah  you-ah  don't-ah  say-ah  Ah-ah! 
Yours-ah,  Jacob-ah  Gruber-ah.'  " 


126  METHODIST  HEROES 


He  was  seventy-two  when  he  died.  It  is  said 
that  "he  performed  more  work,  preached  more 
sermons,  endured  more  fatigue  and  hardship, 
with  less  abatement  of  mental  and  physical 
energy,  than  perhaps  any  other  minister  of  his 
times."  Indeed,  the  steady  and  glowing  flame  of 
his  zeal  and  industry  was  never  quenched  until 
extinguished  by  death. 


XXXI 


JAMES  GILMORE  OF  THE  ECCENTRIC 
GROUP 

Some  twenty  or  more  of  the  early  Methodist 
fathers  seemed  to  have  had  a  strong  vein  of 
eccentricity  running  through  their  characters. 
Such  were  Billy  Hibbard,  Jacob  Gruber,  Lorenzo 
Dow,  John  Allen,  Peter  Cartwright,  and  our 
present  subject,  James  Gilmore.  From  several 
sources,  but  principally  from  Dr.  George  Peck's 
Early  Methodism,  I  have  found  stories  illustrat- 
ing this  trait  in  his  character. 

"A  young  woman,  the  daughter  of  a  good  Meth- 
odist brother,  obstinately  refused  to  be  converted, 
or  even  to  kneel  in  family  prayer.  He  tried  in 
various  ways  to  move  her,  but  all  in  vain.  'Well,' 
said  he,  'you  are  determined  to  go  to  hell,  and  if 
you  will  go,  then  the  sooner  you  go,  the  better.' 
This  rather  shocked  her;  but  she  was  utterly 
astounded,  when  he  prayed  in  the  family,  to  hear 
him  call  her  name  and  tell  the  Lord  how  wicked 
she  was,  and  then  ask  the  Lord  'if  she  would  not 
repent,  to  kill  her  and  take  her  out  of  the  way 
of  others  whom  she  was  hindering.'  She  got  out 
of  his  way  as  soon  as  prayer  was  over,  and  went 
127 


128  METHODIST  HEROES 


off  in  a  great  state  of  excitement.  She  told  the 
story  to  a  young  friend,  and  fretting  and  chafing 
said  she  thought  as  likely  as  not  the  Lord  would 
kill  her,  adding  that  if  he  did,  she  would  lay  all 
the  blame  to  Gilmore.  The  poor  girl  finally  be- 
came penitent,  and  lived  and  died  in  the  church." 

"He  came  to  Attica  on  the  Sabbath  and  found 
the  people  all  at  their  work,  and  the  grist-mill 
running.  He  sent  out  a  boy  to  publish  that  a  new 
minister  would  preach  in  a  certain  place.  The 
house  was  full,  and  Gilmore  laid  on  the  lash  in 
his  own  peculiar  style.  Among  other  things  of 
the  same  sort,  he  said :  'Tell  your  miller  that  if 
he  don't  stop  grinding  on  Sunday  he'll  be  ground 
to  all  eternity.  Hell  will  be  the  bed-stone  and 
God  Almighty  the  runner.' "  Strange  to  say, 
several  were  converted  and  a  class  established 
there. 

During  the  war  of  1812  he  visited  the  hospital 
in  Buffalo.  "An  officer  ordered  him  away  with 
profane  language.  Gilmore  replied,  'If  you  do  not 
stop  swearing,  God  will  kill  you  and  send  you  to 
hell.'  The  guard  presented  his  bayonet,  and 
threatened  to  run  him  through.  Gilmore  stood 
his  ground,  reproving  him  for  his  blasphemy, 
and  the  officer  repeated  his  threats.  When  the 
courageous  messenger  of  God  was  ready  he  left, 
but  in  such  wise  as  to  prove  that  he  had  not  been 
frightened  away." 


JAMES  GILMORE 


129 


His  method  of  pastoral  visiting  would  hardly 
do  in  this  day.  He  visited  each  house  in  turn. 
"He  came  in  and  without  being  seated,  asked, 
'Have  you  any  religion  here?'  If  the  answer  was 
not  satisfactory,  he  added,  'You  must  repent  or 
you  will  go  to  hell.    Good-by.'  " 

The  following  story  is  so  strange  that  it  seems 
hard  to  believe.  It  is  given  on  such  good  au- 
thority that  we  are  compelled  to  believe  it.  We 
give  it  in  the  words  of  Dr.  George  Peck:  "He 
preached  in  a  place  called  Naples,  and  was  so  out- 
spoken and  fearless  that  the  people  concluded 
that  he  seriously  interfered  with  their  pleasures, 
and  resolved  to  drive  him  from  the  place.  At  one 
of  his  meetings  after  service  had  commenced,  a 
leading  citizen  swung  his  hat  and  hallooed 
'Hurrah!'  All  was  confusion  in  a  moment  and 
Mr.  Gilmore,  finding  it  impossible  to  restore  order, 
left,  and  put  up  with  a  friend  in  the  place.  Be- 
fore he  retired  he  prayed  with  the  family,  and,  re- 
ferring to  the  disturbers,  prayed  that  God  would 
kill  them  and  send  them  to  hell,  as  they  would 
probably  never  come  to  repentance.  Fourteen  of 
the  rioters  and  their  connections  died  suddenly 
within  a  short  time.  The  facts  were  put  together 
by  the  survivors,  and  the  opposition  ended." 

We  must  again  emphasize  the  thought  which 
we  have  expressed  in  other  articles.  We  must  not 
consider  that  the  eccentric  traits  made  up  all  the 


130 


METHODIST  HEROES 


character;  on  the  contrary,  these  men  were  usu- 
ally men  of  sterling  worth,  who  believed  and 
preached  intensely,  and  persuaded  men  and 
women  by  scores  everywhere  to  repent  and  be 
saved. 


XXXII 


JOHN  KAY,  THE  WITTY  KENTUCKIAN 

The  Limestone  Circuit  furnished  a  great  field 
for  heroism  and  for  the  development  of  char- 
acter. After  Peter  Massie,  John  Ray  came  as 
pastor.  Under  his  ministry  almost  a  hundred 
members  were  added  to  the  church.  This  eccen- 
tric man  was  born  January  21,  1768.  He  was  a 
true  frontiersman.  The  visit  of  some  Methodists 
to  his  home  community  led  to  his  being  soundly 
converted.  In  1793  he  entered  Conference  and 
labored  in  Tennessee,  Virginia,  and  North  Caro- 
lina until  1801,  when,  completely  worn  out,  he 
located  and  returned  to  Kentucky.  He  remained 
a  local  preacher  for  eighteen  years.  This  did  not 
hinder  him  from  preaching  often.  He  usually 
had  a  regular  round  of  appointments  and  won 
many  for  the  Kingdom.  He  was  a  noted  soul- 
winner,  being  especially  successful  in  altar  work. 
In  1819  he  was  readmitted  to  the  Conference,  and 
preached  for  nine  years.  The  last  nine  years  of 
his  life  he  was  included  in  the  roll  of  superan- 
nuates. He  died  at  Greencastle,  Indiana,  in  1837. 

He  is  described  by  one  of  his  friends  as  "A  man 
131 


132  METHODIST  HEROES 


of  large  stature — tall,  well  proportioned,  rather 
portly,  erect,  noble  and  commanding  in  appear- 
ance. His  features  were  regular,  of  a  strong 
masculine  cast.  Benignant  humor,  independent 
boldness,  uncompromising  firmness,  and  biting 
sarcasm  were  strongly  written  upon  his  counte- 
nance. His  step  was  firm  and  elastic.  He  was 
of  graceful  and  commanding  mien.  His  com- 
plexion, though  dark,  was  not  swarthy.  His  hair, 
though  doubtless  originally  a  deep  brown,  when 
I  first  saw  him  was  a  magnificent  iron  gray, 
standing  nearly  erect  upon  his  forehead,  and 
hanging  down  from  ear  to  ear  in  bushy  curls  upon 
his  shoulders." 

He  was  absolutely  without  fear.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Ralston  is  authority  for  a  story  which  illustrates 
this.  ''He  with  several  others  had  prosecuted  a 
man  for  kidnapping  a  family  of  free  Negroes. 
This  person  had  carried  off  two  lads  and  had  sold 
them  in  west  Tennessee.  In  order  to  save  himself 
from  the  State  prison  he  was  compelled  to  send 
and  purchase  the  Negroes  at  an  enormous  ad- 
vance, and  surrender  them  to  the  courts.  He  was 
greatly  exasperated  and  determined  to  seek  re- 
venge on  his  prosecutors.  Not  long  afterward 
Ray  and  myself,  with  two  other  persons,  were  re- 
turning from  the  city  of  Lexington,  where  wc  had 
attended  a  Conference.  We  had  not  traveled  far 
before  we  found  ourselves  pursued  by  a  party  of 


JOHN  RAY 


133 


five  men,  armed  to  the  teeth  with  knives  and  pis- 
tols. They  followed  us  until  we  reached  a  certain 
place,  when  they  rode  up,  swearing  that  thej 
would  be  revenged  by  shedding  Ray's  heart's 
blood.  He  received  them  as  coolly  as  if  they  had 
been  harmless  travelers.  'If  you  think,'  he  said, 
'to  frighten  me  by  this  maneuver,  you  are  a  set 
of  cowards,  or  you  would  not  come  up  armed 
against  an  unarmed  man.  It  is  dastardly.  You 
are  young  men ;  I  am  an  old  man :  why  all  this 
parade?'  I  and  the  other  brethren  told  them  that 
if  they  touched  Ray  it  would  be  at  their  peril,  and 
urged  them  to  desist  for  the  sake  of  their  own 
reputation,  if  for  no  other  reason.  We  finally 
succeeded  in  dissuading  them  from  their  purpose, 
but  through  it  all  the  intended  object  of  their 
vengeance  remained  perfectly  unmoved." 

We  have  space  for  only  one  anecdote  illustrat- 
ing his  readiness  of  wit.  Ray  generally  rode  a 
very  superior  horse.    Once  as  he  was  riding 

through  the  town  of  M   a  group  of  young 

lawyers  and  doctors,  seeing  him  approach,  plotted 
that  they  would  "stump"  him  in  some  way  when 
he  came  up.  On  his  arrival  their  chosen  spokes- 
man commenced :  "Well,  Father  Ray,  how  is  it 
that  you  are  so  much  better  off  than  your  Master? 
He  had  to  ride  on  an  ass,  but  you  are  mounted 
on  a  very  fine  horse;  you  must  be  proud.  Why 
don't  you  ride  as  did  your  Master?" 


134  METHODIST  HEROES 

"For  the  simple  reason,"  said  Ray,  "that  there 
are  no  asses  now  to  be  obtained — they  turn  them 
all  into  lawyers  and  doctors." 

They  said  no  more. 


XXXIII 


"REFORMATION"  JOHN  ADAMS 

Methodism  has  produced  some  eccentric  char- 
acters. It  is  to  its  credit  that  it  could  touch  a 
Lorenzo  Dow  and  send  him,  a  flaming  torch,  to 
bring  light  to  many  a  darkened  soul.  We  some- 
times think  only  of  the  oddities  of  such  men  and 
forget  for  what  they  stood  in  their  own  genera- 
tion. 

"Reformation"  John  Adams  was  a  man  of  this 
type.  He  was  not  widely  known  outside  of  the 
New  England  States,  where  his  lifework  was  done. 

Our  hero  came  from  the  Adams  family.  His 
great-grandfather  was  the  uncle  of  President 
Adams,  a  direct  descendant  of  John  and  Priscilla 
Alden,  of  Mayflower  fame. 

Mr.  Adams  was  born  at  Newington,  New  Hamp- 
shire, February  14,  1791,  and  died  at  Newmarket, 
September  30,  1850.  When  he  was  thirteen  he 
heard  a  funeral  sermon  which  affected  him  for  a 
number  of  weeks.  Later  he  was  much  affected 
by  the  death  of  a  cousin,  and  yet  again  by  a  ser- 
mon which  he  heard  delivered  by  George  Picker- 
ing, the  first  Methodist  whom  he  had  seen.  Now 
135 


136 


METHODIST  HEROES 


he  was  thoroughly  aroused.  After  attending  a 
meeting,  he  was  crossing  a  pasture  alone.  He 
says:  "I  bowed  down  to  pray  for  mercy;  yet  the 
tempter  drove  me  from  my  knees.  I  went  on 
farther,  and  bowed  again,  however,  and  here  I 
had  a  clear  discovery  of  my  lost  condition,  and 
the  damning  nature  of  sin.  Hell  now  appeared 
before  me,  and  I  saw  the  justice  of  God  in  my  con- 
demnation. O,  the  distress  my  soul  was  in  I  can- 
not describe!"  That  night  he  went  to  a  meeting. 
Here  he  finally  found  peace. 

The  first  person  whom  he  won  to  Christ  was 
his  own  mother.  He  soon  felt  that  he  must  preach, 
and  offered  himself,  and  was  accepted  by  the  Con- 
ference and  sent  into  the  State  of  Maine. 

His  struggles  were  many  in  his  long  ministry. 
He  won  many  for  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  Some 
years  he  records  two  hundred  additions.  He 
always  spoke  of  a  revival  as  a  reformation,  and 
thus  derived  his  nickname.  His  journal  is  full 
of  the  record  of  prayers  for  reformation  and  the 
success  of  his  efforts.  In  1818  several  sea  cap- 
tains were  converted  under  his  ministry. 

His  experiences  were  not  always  like  this: 
"Monday  I  came  to  Weymouth,  and  one  of  the 
wicked  blew  a  blast  at  me  on  the  way.  In  the 
evening  our  meeting  was  powerful,  but  the 
steward  and  class  leader  arose  in  opposition  to 
me  and  Mrs.  Adams  and  the  two  preachers  with 


JOHN  ADAMS 


137 


us.  Then  we  went  to  Mr.  Rice's  and,  retiring  to 
our  chamber,  prayed  and  wept  before  God  till 
midnight." 

He  worked  very  hard.  In  his  journal  he  speaks 
of  attending  more  than  twenty  meetings  in  a 
week  and  four  days.  His  ministry  on  the  Island 
of  Nantucket  was  very  remarkable.  We  have  not 
space  to  describe  it,  but  refer  the  reader  to  his 
journal.  To  this  we  are  indebted  for  the  facts  of 
this  article. 

He  had  a  great  gift  in  selecting  appropriate 
texts.  At  a  camp  meeting  he  won  the  attention 
of  the  rowdies  by  preaching  on  the  text,  "Suffer 
me  that  I  may  speak;  and  after  that  I  have 
spoken,  mock  on"  (Job  21.  3).  He  had  their 
attention. 

In  speaking  of  a  man,  he  said:  "He  was  Gray 
by  name,  and  had  become  somewhat  gray  and 
rusty  in  his  Majesty's  service,  because  he  had  not 
frequently  anointed  his  shield,  or  exercised  that 
faith  that  works  by  love."  He  described  a  meet- 
ing as  "powerful,  and  some  were  awakened,  and 
we  battered  the  two  rocks  of  unconditional  fa- 
tality, and  God  kept  us  channel-way."  In  speak- 
ing of  an  opponent  in  a  controversy,  he  said,  "I 
punished  the  leviathan  with  the  sword  of  silence." 

He  prayed  for  a  couple  of  young  ministers. 
One  was  named  Mills.  He  prayed  "that  God 
would  increase  Mills  into  good  cents,  and  so  on 


138  METHODIST  HEKOES 


to  crowns,  hoping  that  he  and  his  colleagues  would 
be  crowned  with  glory,  honor,  immortality,  and 
eternal  life."  He  described  the  sermon  of  another 
who  had  a  hard  time  in  preaching  by  saying,  "It 
was  death  in  the  pot." 

It  is  said  that  on  one  occasion  this  eccentric 
man  bound  a  penitent  to  the  altar  with  a  rope 
and  would  not  release  him  until  he  was  con- 
verted. In  speaking  of  a  great  meeting  he  said 
"a  hundred  arose  for  prayers.  Glory  to  God! 
more  than  five  tons  of  unbelief  went  off." 


XXXIV 


BILLY  HIBBARD,  THE  ECCENTRIC 

Seventy-five  years  ago  the  naine  of  Billy  Hib- 
bard  was  almost  a  household  word  in  Eastern 
Methodism.  Most  of  his  ministry  was  spent  in 
the  State  of  New  York.  He  has  left  his  autobiog- 
raphy which  gives  the  revelation  of  an  interest- 
ing man.  A  writer  said  of  him:  "In  him  con- 
trarieties were  strangely  blended.  He  was  grave, 
yet  facetious;  serious  and  thoughtful,  yet  witty 
and  humorous;  stern  in  appearance  and  in  man- 
ner, yet  as  tender  and  docile  as  a  child." 

Many  amusing  incidents  are  told  of  him.  The 
following  is  the  best  known.  The  first  Conference 
he  attended  soon  found  out  his  character.  His 
name  was  twice  called  by  the  secretary  as  William 
Hibbard  without  eliciting  a  response.  The  bishop 
said,  "Brother  Hibbard,  why  don't  you  answer 
to  your  name?" 

"I  will  when  it  is  called,"  he  replied. 

"Is  not  your  name  William?"  said  the  bishop. 

"No,  sir,"  said  he. 

"What  is  it?" 

"It  is  Billy  Hibbard." 

"Why,"  said  the  bishop,  "that  is  a  little  boy's 
name." 

139 


140  METHODIST  HEROES 


"I  was  a  very  little  boy  when  my  father  named 
me/'  was  the  reply.  You  can  imagine  the  merri- 
ment of  the  audience.  In  1798  he  joined  the  New 
York  Conference  after  having  supplied  a  year  on 
the  Pittsfleld  Circuit  in  Massachusetts. 

At  another  Conference  he  was  objected  to  on 
the  ground  that  he  sometimes  practiced  medicine. 
The  bishop  inquired  if  the  report  that  he  prac- 
ticed medicine  were  true.  "I  do  not,"  he  said, 
"I  only  give  advice  in  critical  cases." 

"What  advice  do  you  give?"  asked  the  bishop. 

"I  always  advise  them  to  send  for  a  physician," 
he  replied. 

On  one  occasion  a  young  man  grossly  insulted 
him.  Mr.  Hibbard  said  to  the  young  man :  "I  per- 
ceive, young  man,  that  you  are  destitute  of  good 
manners." 

"I  have  good  manners  too,"  was  the  reply. 

"Well,  if  you  have,"  said  Mr.  Hibbard,  "you 
are  keeping  them  as  an  old  man  I  heard  of  did  his 
money — for  his  children ;  he  never  used  any  for 
himself." 

His  eccentricity  appeared  in  his  selection  of 
hymns.  If  possible,  he  always  selected  a  hymn 
in  one  of  the  unusual  meters.  He  was  the  author 
of  several  hymns  in  some  of  the  old  camp-meeting 
selections.   They  are  said  to  be  quite  good. 

On  one  occasion  he  was  in  the  Forsyth  Street 
Church,  in  New  York,  seated  in  the  altar,  while 


BILLY  HIBBARD 


141 


a  collection  for  some  purpose  was  being  taken. 
Mr.  Hibbard  had  recently  been  ill,  and  was 
obliged  to  take  medicine,  and  when  the  collectors 
passed  by  the  altar  he  arose  and  put  a  box  of 
pills  on  the  plate,  saying:  "Silver  and  gold  have 
I  none,  but  such  as  I  have  give  I  thee."  This 
story  was  told  by  one  of  the  collectors  to  the  late 
Cornelius  R.  Disosway. 

The  same  gentleman  is  responsible  for  another 
reminiscence.  Mr.  Hibbard  spent  most  of  his  life 
preaching  in  the  country,  but  one  Sabbath 
preached  for  the  first  time  in  a  city  church.  For 
the  first  half  hour  he  struggled  along  trying  to 
assume  what  he  thought  to  be  a  city  manner.  He 
finally  gave  it  up  and  said:  ''Now,  my  friends, 
my  name  is  Billy  Hibbard,  a  plain  man,  and  I 
find  this  way  of  preaching  will  not  do  for  me, 
and  that  I  must  preach  as  I  usually  do" — and  he 
did  so.  Many  years  after,  while  traveling  in  Con- 
necticut he  met  a  stranger,  who  said  to  him: 
"You  are  the  Rev.  Billy  Hibbard  ?" 

"Why,  how  do  you  know  me?"  was  his  reply. 

"O,  I  know  you  very  well;  you,  years  ago, 
preached  in  the  Forsyth  Street  Church  in  New 
York  and  I  was  convicted  and  it  led  to  my  con- 
version." 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Hibbard,  "under  which  part 
of  the  sermon  was  it,  the  first  or  the  last?" 
"The  last,"  said  the  stranger. 


142 


METHODIST  HEROES 


"Ah,"  said  Hibbard,  with  an  amused  look  on  his 
face;  "I  thought  so." 

His  death  was  hastened  by  the  division  of  the 
Church  in  1814.  So  great  was  his  grief  that  he 
died  the  same  year.  His  life  was  not  simply  a 
life  of  eccentricity.  It  was  a  life  of  soul-winning. 
He  won  hundreds  for  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
late  Rev.  J.  L.  Gilder  remembered  him  as  large 
of  frame,  tall,  broad-shouldered,  with  features 
strongly  defined.  His  complexion  was  dark,  eye- 
brows heavy,  overhanging  hazel  eyes,  usually 
atwinkle  with  merriment.  The  whole  face  had  an 
expression  of  quaintness. 

He  was  not  only  a  great  soul  winner,  but  a 
great  controversialist  as  well.  He  was  fond  of 
attacking  the  Calvinists  and  also  had  a  contro- 
versy with  the  Quakers,  the  relic  of  which  re- 
mains in  a  little  book  addressed  to  that  sect.  He 
always  came  off  best  in  the  argument  in  which 
he  engaged.  His  ready  wit  often  placed  his  op- 
ponent in  an  embarrassing  position.  Sometimes 
his  use  of  it  bordered  on  coarseness,  but  not  often. 
Many  more  interesting  anecdotes  might  be  told  of 
him,  picked  from  his  autobiography,  but  space 
will  not  permit.  Never  forget  that  he  made  it 
his  chief  business  to  save  men. 


XXXV 


JOHN  HASLAM,  TEMPERANCE  REFORMER 

Many  years  ago  there  might  have  been  seen  in 
a  house  in  northern  New  York  a  young  Irishman 
studying  his  grammar,  aided  by  the  youngest 
daughter  of  the  home  where  he  was  staying.  He 
was  a  young  man  who  felt  the  call  too  preach, 
and  was  preparing  to  be  examined  by  the  Annual 
Conference.  At  times  he  was  out  of  patience,  and 
would  throw  the  grammar  across  the  room  and 
declare  he  would  never  study  it  again.  The  young 
girl,  however,  encouraged  him  to  continue.  This 
was  John  Haslam,  the  young  Irishman,  not  long 
in  this  country,  but  who  already  displayed  some 
ability  as  a  preacher.  The  young  girl  was  my 
great-aunt,  the  sister  of  his  first  wife.  He  be- 
came quite  a  noted  preacher,  working  principally 
in  the  Champlain  Valley.  We  have  several  amus- 
ing and  interesting  traditions  relating  to  him. 

Like  many  another  preacher  of  his  time,  his 
memory  was  marvelous.  He  kuew  the  Bible  abso- 
lutely by  heart,  and  declared  that  if  it  were  de- 
stroyed he  could  reproduce  it  word  for  word.  It 
was  his  common  custom  when  at  my  great-grand- 
143 


144  METHODIST  HEROES 


father's  to  say :  "Now  let  us  have  prayers ;  what 
shall  we  read?  You  tell  me  and  get  your  Bibles, 
and  see  if  I  repeat  it  correctly."  And  invariably 
he  would  repeat  the  chapter  without  a  mistake, 
no  matter  how  unusual  a  one  might  be  selected. 

He  became  quite  active  in  the  temperance  move- 
ment in  that  day,  and  was  mobbed  at  Whitehall, 
New  York,  and  Burlington,  Vermont.  The  fright 
of  the  mob  at  Burlington,  Vermont,  led  to  the 
death  of  his  wife.  In  some  respects  he  resembled 
Billy  Hibbard  or  Peter  Cartwright.  On  one  occa- 
sion he  was  entertained  at  the  home  of  a  farmer, 
and  they  stayed  up  rather  late  Saturday  night. 
This  was  an  unusual  proceeding  for  the  farmer, 
and  the  next  day  during  service  he  struggled  hard 
trying  to  keep  his  eyes  open,  but  began  to  nod  as 
a  sleepy  man  will  do.  Mr.  Haslam  stopped  in  the 
middle  of  his  discourse  and  remarked  to  the  man 
half-asleep,  "You  need  not  bow  to  me,  sir;  I  have 
met  you  before,"  and  then  proceeded  with  his 
discourse.  On  another  occasion,  at  a  camp  meet- 
ing, he  was  sent  to  the  rear  to  quell  the  disturb- 
ance made  by  some  rowdies.  At  first  he  made 
more  noise  than  they,  but  soon  had  them  climbing 
a  large  tree  to  see  who  would  be  at  the  top  first, 
and  then  when  he  had  them  in  the  tree  kept  them 
still  by  offering  a  quarter  to  the  one  who  could 
keep  still  the  longest. 

One  of  his  parishes  was  very  large.  While  in  a 


JOHN  HA  SLAM 


145 


distant  part  of  the  parish  a  Baptist  minister  took 
advantage  of  his  absence  to  proselyte  some  of  the 
young  converts.  The  next  time  the  two  preachers 
met,  Mr.  Haslam  leaned  from  his  saddle,  turned 
toward  the  other  preacher,  and  remarked,  "You 
needn't  think  that  you  can  make  goslings  out  of 
my  chickens." 

One  old  gentleman  told  me  that  he  heard  him 
preach.  After  preaching  he  passed  through  the 
congregation  for  their  offerings,  while  keeping  up 
a  constant  series  of  remarks.  When  he  came  to 
my  informant,  who  was  then  a  young  boy,  he 
patted  him  on  the  head,  and  said,  "You  will  grow 
up  to  be  a  fine  man  some  day."  His  spirit  was 
kindly,  but  he  had  no  mercy  for  an  opponent  in 
controversy. 

There  are  many  other  amusing  and  interesting 
stories  of  his  life  the  insertion  of  which  the  limits 
of  this  chapter  will  not  permit. 


XXXVI 


GEORGE  GARY,  THE  YOUNG  PRESIDING 
ELDER 

The  exigency  of  the  work  was  so  great  in  the 
early  days  that  often  very  young  men  were  forced 
to  the  front.  Among  the  young  men  of  ability 
we  must  count  George  Gary.  He  was  a  man  of 
more  than  ordinary  caliber,  judging  by  the  words 
of  commendation  given  by  his  contemporaries. 

A  rather  amusing  story  is  told  of  his  first  en- 
counter with  Billy  Hibbard.  He  was  visiting 
some  friends  in  New  England  where  Billy  Hib- 
bard was  pastor.  At  the  close  of  the  morning 
service  he  introduced  himself  to  the  preacher  as 
an  exhorter  from  the  woods  in  York  State. 

"What  is  your  name?" 

"George." 

"Have  you  a  license  to  exhort?" 
"No." 

"Will  you  exhort  in  the  church  this  evening  if 
I  make  the  appointment?"1 
"Yes,  if  you  wish  me  to." 

At  the  close  of  the  afternoon  service  Brother 
Hibbard  said  there  was  a  lad  present  from  the 
woods  up  in  York  State  who  would  exhort  in  the 
146 


GEORGE  GARY 


147 


evening,  and  invited  the  congregation  to  come  and 
hear  him.  Gary  had  one  of  his  best  times;  or, 
as  Bishop  Asbnry  would  say,  he  had  an  "open 
time."  The  entire  audience,  including  the  pastor, 
were  filled  with  astonishment  at  the  performance 
of  the  boy.  After  the  sermon  Brother  Hibbard 
subjected  George  to  another  series  of  Yankee 
questions. 

"You  preached!  Are  you  a  preacher?" 

"Yes;  I  try  to  preach." 

"Are  you  a  traveling  preacher?" 

"Yes;  I  have  a  very  large  circuit." 

"In  what  Conference?" 

"Genesee." 

"On  what  district?" 

"  District." 

Hibbard  pulled  a  copy  of  the  Minutes  from  his 

pocket,  found  the  Genesee  Conference  and  

District,  glanced  over  the  list  of  appointments  on 
that  district,  and  began  to  look  serious.  He  put 
his  finger  on  the  page,  looked  at  each  name  care- 
fully, and  then  with  a  stern  look  said,  "Your  name 
is  not  here." 

"Yes,  it  is  there,"  said  George,  pointing  to  the 
name  at  the  head  of  the  list — "Gary,  presiding 
elder." 

Hibbard  bent  his  keen  eye  upon  him,  and  sur- 
veyed him  from  head  to  foot.  "But  you  told  me 
your  name  was  George," 


148  METHODIST  HEROES 


"It  is  George  Gary." 

For  once  the  wit  confessed  himself  outwitted. 

Mr.  Gary  was  superintendent  of  our  mission  in 
Oregon  for  four  years,  1843-47.  At  the  end  of  that 
time  he  returned  to  his  own  Conference,  the  Black 
River,  and  served  it  for  the  rest  of  his  days.  He 
was  the  leader  of  his  General  Conference  delega- 
tion to  the  General  Conference  of  1852,  and  there 
received  the  united  votes  of  the  Genesee,  Oneida, 
and  Black  River  Conferences  for  the  bishopric. 

Dr.  George  Peck  gives  him  a  very  strong  trib- 
ute: "In  the  pulpit  George  Gary  was  a  strong 
man.  Not  that  he  always  preached  great  sermons. 
He  sometimes  fell  below  himself,  and  when  this 
was  the  case  no  one  knew  it  better  than  he  did ; 
at  others  he  was  quite  above  himself,  and  he  then 
created  a  great  sensation.  Usually  he  preached 
with  much  deliberation,  and  was  simply  instruc- 
tive; but  on  great  occasions  his  soul  fired  up  and 
he  was  overwhelmingly  eloquent.  His  forte  was 
in  the  pathetic.  When  he  became  thoroughly 
moved  his  efforts  were  the  very  soul  of  passion. 
Persuasion,  melting,  over-powering  eloquence,  is 
the  creature  of  passion,  and  we  never  witnessed 
a  more  perfect  triumph  in  this  line  than  was  often 
achieved  by  our  much-loved  friend  when  in  the 
zenith  of  his  ministerial  life.  On  the  camp  ground 
thousands  have  melted  under  his  burning  words ; 
saints  shouted  and  sinners  stood  aghast." 


GEORGE  GARY 


149 


Much  as  we  would  like  to  continue  this  series 
of  articles,  we  must  refrain.  Other  duties  compel 
us  for  the  present  to  bid  adieu  to  our  much-loved 
itinerants.  I  say  farewell  with  regret,  for  as  I 
have  looked  down  the  line  of  their  serried  ranks 
one  and  another  have  almost  seemed  to  salute 
me  in  order  to  attract  my  attention,  that  I  might 
include  them  in  my  list.  Abner  Chase,  William 
Colbert,  William  Case,  William  Black,  Henry 
Ryan,  Charles  Giles  all  beckon  me,  and  many  more 
also  of  the  great  and  lesser  worthies  of  a  day  now 
forgotten.  What  noble,  courageous,  inspiring 
men  Methodist  ministers  have  been  and  are!  My 
aim  has  been  in  some  measure  to  bring  to  this 
generation  a  sense  of  the  greatness  of  our  heri- 
tage. In  the  great  amount  of  reading  necessary 
for  the  preparation  of  these  articles,  my  rever- 
ence has  grown  and  my  wonder  increased  as  I 
have  closely  studied  the  story  of  their  labors, 
sympathized  with  them  in  their  hardships  and 
sorrows,  enjoyed  their  wit  and  fun,  and  appre- 
ciated their  good  sense.  Only  thirty-six  men  have 
I  presented  out  of  a  great  host.  I  really  wish  I 
knew  how  large  a  host  it  has  been.  After  a  little 
calculation  I  venture  a  guess  that  more  than 
three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  in  America 
have  borne  the  name  of  Methodist  minister. 
Probably  in  the  sight  of  the  world  most  of  them 
would  be  considered  failures.    But  the  day  will 


150  METHODIST  HEROES 


come  when  they  shall  be  presented  "faultless  be- 
fore the  throne  of  God."  These  humble  helpers 
shall  be  found  as  a  necessary  part  of  God's  great 
plan  for  the  redemption  of  the  race.  If  we  could 
trace  their  influence,  to  our  surprise  we  should 
find  that  it  was  world-wide.  Then  all  hail  to  the 
glorious  men  and  their  great  work,  and  "For- 
ward" be  our  watchword,  as  it  was  theirs  in  the 
toilsome  days  of  long  ago. 

Some  day  may  we  join  with  them 

Ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand, 

In  sparkling  raiment  bright, 
The  armies  of  the  ransomed  saints 

Throng  up  the  steeps  of  light; 
'Tis  finished,  all  is  finished, 

Their  fight  with  death  and  sin: 
Fling  open  wide  the  golden  gates, 

And  let  the  victors  in. 


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